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MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD,

THE TAUNTON BRANCH RAIL ROAD,

AND CONNECTING LINES,

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

HARRY B. CHASE, JR.

MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

2006

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MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD,

THE TAUNTON BRANCH RAIL ROAD,

AND CONNECTING LINES,

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

__________________

Harry B. Chase, Jr.

Mansfield, Massachusetts,

2006

___________________

Dedicated to the memory of my father,

Harry Bennett Chase, Sr., 1887-1948,

the son of an Old Colony Railroad yardmaster,

who worked for The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

in the freight and signal departments from 1907 to 1948.

___________________

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Justification for a mixed train

A "mixed train," in traditional American railroad parlance, was one made up of both freight and

passenger cars assembled behind a locomotive in the most convenient way. French railroaders had a

handy word, ramassage, which they used for the most mixed kind of mixed train, one coupled

together from all sorts of cars not normally found in the same "consist." Both the French and the

American terms accurately describe my history of the Boston and Providence Rail Road. It is a

collection of this, that and whatever, shamelessly scavenged from all sorts of sources, both primary

and secondary, from the most scholarly and authoritative to dog-eared 19th century copies of The

Old Farmer‟s Almanac(k), all dragged (so to speak) out of rusty sidings and weed-grown yards,

switched to the departure track in what seems a reasonable order and then coupled together to

resemble a train.

A mixed train generally lacked the class and prestige of an all-passenger train and even, in many

cases, an all-freight train. Traditionally, the lowly mixed train clanked along at a leisurely schedule

on secondary trackage. But its wayside patrons found it a useful service. In a similar way, my history

lacks the style and authority of an account assembled from pure primary sources. I suppose that its

scholarship level might be about that of a rather laborious and rambly university undergraduate

thesis drawn largely from sources found on the shelves of the college library. But as the college

thesis and the mixed train have had their uses and fill a purpose, so I trust does this monograph, even

if for none other than as a handy chronological ramassage – a source document – of names, places,

dates, figures and facts.

Honesty demands the admission that I undertook this project for two simple reasons. First, for

amusement – pure fun, if you will. Second, because I was quietly embarrassed and dismayed to

know so little about the history of the railroad that had operated through my home town and played

so significant a role in its development since before my great-grandparents were born, and for which

both my father and my grandfather worked for so many years. These original objectives have been

satisfied. The project has been fun, and as it progressed I learned many things.

I hope, therefore, that anyone who may read this collection of data – who gets aboard and rides

this slow train of mixed cars – will receive it in the same light in which it was written.

To provide this chance reader with a background, I have begun the tale well before the coming of

the railroads, in an era when the ox, the horse, the coastal schooner or steamship and the canal boat

reigned. Though my original intent was to bring the account up to the present date, common sense

and availability of time dictated that I end it when the Boston and Providence was taken over by the

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Old Colony Railroad in 1888. Because the Taunton Branch Rail Road and the Foxborough Branch

(or Mansfield and Framingham) Rail Road tied in with the Boston and Providence at Mansfield and

provided joint service, I have allotted appropriate space to those satellite lines.

Compared to the super-railroads that now crisscross the country, the little 43-mile Boston and

Providence with its minuscule branches might seem at first glance unworthy of the full attention of

even the amateur historian. But aside from its role as one of the predecessors of the late blue chip

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the Boston and Providence is interesting and unique

in its own right. Its incorporators envisioned it as a horse railway. It was one of the few early

American railroads to be built not from a thriving seaport into the hinterlands, but from a seaport to

another seaport, the rationale of its planners being to speed transport between Boston and New York

City via Providence, Rhode Island, by means of coordinated land-water service – as, in fact, the

stagecoach lines had done before them.

Construction was engineered by four West Pointers, the chief of whom, Captain (later Major)

William Gibbs McNeill, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at the age of 17, was a

brother of artist James McNeill Whistler's famed mother. He was aided by Whistler's father,

Lieutenant George Washington Whistler, who went on to assist, at the request of Czar Nicholas I, in

the construction of the earliest railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The other two engineers

became Civil War generals, one Union, the other Confederate; each was captured in combat and

imprisoned by the opposing side. And Boston and Providence's young master mechanic George S.

Griggs was the brain behind many ingenious inventions having to do with locomotives, including the

popular "diamond" smokestack.

On a local level, one of the country's first true union passenger stations serving two separate

railroad corporations (Boston and Providence and Taunton Branch, which despite its name was not a

“branch”) was erected at Mansfield in 1836. Congressman Abraham Lincoln changed trains at that

depot in 1848; and the building, though removed in 1860 from its original location and replaced with

a larger structure, still stands in Mansfield as a private dwelling.

My placing of emphasis on Mansfield out of all proportion to its seeming importance in the

general scheme of the Boston and Providence comes naturally. As of the present writing I have lived

85 years in the town, and my familiarity with its history has cut a deep channel; besides which the

sources of railroad information most readily available to me are local ones. Yet neither will I

apologize for what some might see as parochial ego in placing so much emphasis on my native

village. At one time the four-way junction of two busy double-track railroad systems, boasting a

large two-story brick passenger depot, a freight transfer station employing 100 men, a 20-track

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freight yard where two and sometimes three switch engines toiled day and night, a ten-stall

roundhouse, two turntables, coaling facilities, and a switch and signal plant third in size in the

United States after the installation at New York's Grand Central Depot (that's what it officially was

called!) and one other junction whose identity is unknown to me, and with 100 trains a day stopping

to take water, Mansfield, though not a "railroad town" in the traditional sense of being a division

point, in my opinion merited that title.

More than a century ago, one third of Mansfield's employed males worked for the railroad. The

Chases, among others, were what was known as a "railroad family." My father began his 41-year rail

career on Mansfield's freight platforms, and his father served as Old Colony Railroad yardmaster and

New Haven Railroad freight agent and chief yard clerk at Mansfield. Four of my uncles and five in-

laws also worked for the New Haven or for other railroads at Mansfield and elsewhere and one even

survived being struck by a locomotive.

As to my own qualifications, though I had my first train ride at the age of less than a year and

served during a part of World War II in the Army Transportation Corps (our insignia was a truck

wheel on a steam locomotive driving wheel on a ship's steering wheel – wheels within wheels), I

have never drawn pay from a railroad company. I am, however, a serious lifelong "railfan" and

collector of railroadiana, and further admit to being what some condescendingly refer to as a "local

historian," a title that carries a load of pejorative implications.

But a number of truly knowledgeable men and women, many no longer living, over the years have

bailed me out with personal communications (referenced "pers. comm." in my footnotes) and the

loan or gift of old photographs, timetables and other memorabilia. I thank Elwyn Atherton, former

Mansfield Public Library director Margaret "Peg" Bradner, Anna Bruno, Percy W. Burrows,

Alexander B. Cauldwell, my uncles Frank A. and Willis E. Chase, my cousin Philip Chase,

Mansfield historian Jennie Freeman Copeland, retired New Haven Railroad towerman Louis V.

"Tiny" Cotnoir, Kevin Cunningham, former director of the Railway & Locomotive Historical

Society Francis D. Donovan, Ruth B. (Walker) Flint, Leonard F. Flynn, Danuta Forbes, Elizabeth D.

(White) Forbes, Clarence C. Fuller, noted Abraham Lincoln authority John W. Haines, William O.

Hocking, Alan M. Levitt (to whom I am enormously indebted), my former employer civil engineer

John P. Lienesch, former Mansfield Historical Society president David E. Loving, geologist Dr. Paul

C. Lyons, John W. Manuel, Edward McGinn, long-time American Railway Express messenger

Howard E. Phelps, Donald P. Pitman, George E. Sawyer, Lewis Schneider, New Haven Railroad

towerman Bowman J. "Bo" Sheehan, Eric Stange, retired Metro North lead trainmaster J. W. "Jack"

Swanberg, railroad historian Edward J. Sweeney, New Haven Railroad locomotive engineman

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Robert R. Tweedy, and of course my father Harry Bennett Chase and grandfather Charles Elwin

Chase and their combined 85 years of railroading, mostly in and around Mansfield.

I wish especially to thank former Mansfield Public Library director Leslie A. Pasch for her

kindness and trust in lending me the voluminous Stearns family correspondence transcribed and

edited by Stuart H. Buck, one of the pure primary sources that has come my way. And I am indebted

to the helpful staff of the Mansfield library in general, and Mary Tynan in particular.

Leonard F. Flynn and landowner Donald P. Zecher, both of West Mansfield, cooperated cheerfully

in the unsuccessful effort to find the English-built 1832 Boston and Providence locomotive Whistler

believed to have been lost in a Mansfield bog but now almost certainly known to have been salvaged

from its mud bath and put back in service.

My wife Joyce Chase helped when I became bogged down in the intricacies of the Internet.

Richard A. Fleischer edited the completed monograph, made possible by the technical know-how

of Charles O. Dunn, associate editor of Shoreliner, who converted it from the obscure program in

which it was written to one readable by anyone who owns a computer.

Henry David Thoreau, who in Walden wrote (and this will astonish those who think of him as

purely a naturalist), "I too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth," has

posthumously served me well. He so often walked the railroad in Concord, Massachusetts, that the

crews of passing freight trains mistook him for an employe. (I use the spelling of this word made

“official” by the New Haven Railroad in its special instructions and rule books.) In his two-million-

word Journal he writes on at least 393 days between 1838 and 1861 of the railroad or of the men

who worked for it. (On 10 August 1854, the day after Walden was published, he tells of hearing a

Wilson's thrush while walking the tracks in Deep Cut near Walden Pond.) Though Concord is 30

miles north of Mansfield, and Thoreau wrote generally of the Fitchburg Railroad there, many of his

observations and comments are pertinent as footnotes to this history of the contemporaneous Boston

and Providence.

Regretfully, I have had to bypass many rich sources. For example, my years have made it

inadvisable for me to journey to the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where the Thomas J. Dodd

Research Center contains a wealth of archival railroad material, including a Boston and Providence

letter book dated 1834 to 1836 which would have been invaluable in compiling this monograph.

As for omissions and errors (of which I am sure there are many in so detailed a work drawn from

so many sources), misinterpretations, conjectures and frank guesswork, I take complete

responsibility. I would be pleased, not offended, to have missing data or major or minor errors of fact

pointed out to me. Misinformation abounds along the historical track and is apt to derail the

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unwatchful. For example, I have "learned" from apparently authoritative sources that the Boston and

Providence was Massachusetts' "first railroad" (it was not, and neither was Quincy's Granite

Railway, frequently credited with being America's earliest) and that George Washington Whistler

"built the Trans-Siberian Railroad" or “Russia‟s first railroad” (he did neither). Edward Gibbon in his monumental work The decline and fall of the Roman empire remarked that

the historian, "Surrounded with imperfect fragments, always concise, often obscure, and sometimes

contradictory, . . . is reduced to collect, to compare, and to conjecture . . . ." So, on an infinitely more

modest scale, has it been with my efforts in putting together this mixed-train account of the Boston

and Providence Rail Road.

Those explanations and comments out of the way, the switching done and the train made up and

ready to pull out, I say, "All aboard!"

Material from this monograph may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior oral or written

permission. Appropriate credit would be appreciated.

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Contents

PART 1

-- Justification for a mixed train --

-- Table of contents --

1 Before the railroads 1

2 The horse railways 22

3 The Boston and Providence (steam) Rail Road 48

4 Sleepers, rails and kilometer posts 70

5 B. and P. gets its first locomotive engines 87

6 The rum rebellion 102

PART 2

7 The Attleborough Kirk Yard affair 110

8 B. and P. runs its first trains and loses two locomotives 125

9 A ride on the wild side aboard Whistler 149

10 Charlie the faithful horse helps open Canton viaduct 167

11 The Boston and Providence in operation 180

12 The Taunton Branch 194

13 A Mansfield poet critiques the B. and P. 212

14 The "Great Seekonk Railroad Case" 227

PART 3

15 The Panic of 1837 238

16 A European railroader in Yankeeland 263

17 "Jim Crow" rears its ugly head 283

18 Not even a hog can get through Providence 303

19 Providence at last gets its Union Station 323

20 A future president rides the rails 340

21 The Canton viaduct horror 351

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PART 4

22 The Mansfield coal-railroad empire that never was 358

23 The unlucky locomotive G. S. Griggs 378

24 The Panic of 1857 402

25 Through rail service to New York begins – almost 418

26 The Boston and Providence and the Civil War 430

27 The post-war railroad boom 449

28 A fine master mechanic is lost 467

29 A two-faced monster roams the rails 477

PART 5

30 The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg 493

31 Railroading's golden age 505

32 The year of jubilee 526

33 Dangerous days and dismal depots 550

34 The Providence problem revisited 572

35 Old Colony sweeps up "the Clinton" 592

36 The Great Freshet of 1886 606

37 The Bussey bridge horror 627

PART 6

38 A cavalry sergeant rides herd on Mansfield yard 640

39 Old Colony courts the Boston and Providence 648

40 “The B. & P. R. R. is no more” 663

41 Under the Old Colony flag 668

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Appendix

A Date index of locomotives of the Boston and Providence

Rail Road and the Taunton Branch Rail Road 677

B Boston and Providence locomotives at time of 1888 Old

Colony lease and their ultimate disposition 684

C Report of road tests of engine Whistler

February-March 1835 687

D NYNH&H Railroad notice governing change to right-hand

running 690

E Corporate chronologies of selected railroads 692

F Providence and Boston Rail Road and

Transportation Company 701

G “Slip carriages” on British railways 702

H Those mysterious kilometer posts 704

I Biographical sketches 709

References 722

Index 744

=0=

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1 – Before the railroads

Before the advent of the common carrier railroads in eastern North America the only means of

transport for persons, mail, express or freight was (if overland) on foot or by horseback or in

horse-drawn or ox-drawn wheeled vehicles or, in winter, sleighs or sledges; and if by water, in

vessels that sailed or (later) steamed along the coastlines or up and down the navigable rivers.

Toward the end of the pre-railroad era a sort of land-water compromise was reached when for a

short time canals became popular if not profitable in parts of the eastern United States.

All these forms of transport suffered from insurmountable handicaps. Saddle horses, horse-

drawn carriages and horse- or ox-hauled carts and wagons were delayed and sometimes brought

to a halt by the execrable roads, while the canals not only were slow (four miles per hour was

generally a top speed) but were apt to be shut down five or six months of the year by low water

and growth of vegetation in summer, and in winter by freezing, and undermining of the banks

by tunneling muskrats. The canals also were bedeviled by other problems peculiar to them, such

as water reserves insufficient to fill their locks, and legal disputes over water rights between

mill owners and the canal companies. And coastal ships often struggled against adverse tides,

fogs, contrary winds, storms, shoals and otherwise dangerous waters.

It is recorded that as early as 1636 a "narrow Indian path" connected the Puritan settlement at

Boston with the vicinity of Seekonk, just east of and across a river from what was to become

Providence, Rhode Island. In January of that year and over this trail Roger Williams fled

Boston's harsh religious atmosphere and civil rights restrictions, settling first at Seekonk and

then, in summer, when he learned that the place was in Plymouth Colony, canoeing west across

the Seekonk River to a permanent home in the spot he named Providence. By 1650 the trail had

become known to the English colonists as the Rhode Island Bay Path, though Rhode Islanders

called it the Old Wampanoag Indian Trail. In passing the Dedham Garrison in Massachusetts

Bay Colony and then Woodcock's Garrison in the part of Attleborough now called North

Attleboro its course was not far laterally from the future route of the Boston and Providence

Rail Road. For more than a century this old Indian path became so commonly used by the

English as well as the native Americans that it hardened into a road of sorts. But this didn't

much help those who wished to travel farther, say between Boston and New York or

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Philadelphia.

The first post rider to deliver mail in North America took two weeks, from 22 January to

about 5 February 1673, to urge his horse from New York to Boston, but not by way of

Providence. To avoid the broad river mouths along the Connecticut shore, after leaving New

Haven he rode the inland route via Hartford, Springfield and Worcester. On 9 June 1693 a

postal rider began making the tedious trip between Boston and Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island,

in Narragansett Bay, using a ferry to finish his run.[1] The following century saw some but not

much improvement. What is alleged to have been the first stagecoach in the American colonies

was owned by one Jonathan Wardwell of Boston. It first made the run from Boston to

Providence on 13 May 1718. In 1737 the first freight wagon reportedly made regular trips

between the two cities,[2] and by the 1740s a stage ran sporadically between Providence and

Boston.[3] But coaches did not become popular until 1783 when regular trips between Boston

and New York began lurching over the post road, and these normally required six days. In 1785,

Josiah Quincy, whose son later became president of the Boston and Providence Rail Road,

"took up to a week" aboard a stagecoach from Boston to New York.[4]

In that same year, after more than a century of the mail being carried in saddlebags between

the two cities, the federal government for the first time awarded the New York to Boston mail

contract to a stagecoach line. Mail was one of the few things that warranted being carried

overland for any distance. Little intercity public freight or passenger transport existed. Heavy

loads were hauled by oxen; while men who were determined to go somewhere got about by

stagecoach, chaise, in the saddle or even afoot. Most personal travel was for business or

government purposes. Neither was there anything we would recognize as "commuting." Coach

travel was costly, and at an average speed of six to ten miles per hour on good roads and two to

three or even less on the bad ate up too much time to be useful for commuting to and from work

or unnecessary travel. The minority of men who were not farmers generally worked close to

where they lived and got to their businesses by shank's mare. Some hardy souls footed it for

what now would be thought incredible distances – middle-aged East Mansfield resident Isaac

Stearns thought nothing of hiking from his home to Boston, 25 miles or so over the roads.

Travelers often put up overnight in private homes (people were less afraid of strangers in

those friendlier times) but more often in boozy, bed-buggy and overcrowded roadside taverns,

which filled the useful role played later by the railroad station and the adjacent hotel.

Sometimes a great amount of effort and time went into making what we of the automobile

era would consider a ridiculously short trip. When Deacon William Deane of Mansfield took

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his ox sled to Dedham, 18 miles away, to bring home his blushing bride and her dowry of a

feather bed, pots and kettles and general household furniture, the return journey took them 18

hours.[5]

As for freight, many bulk items – cotton, flour, hops, barreled vinegar, barrels of beef, pork

and flour, grains, salt, hay, cordwood and timber, to name just a few[6] – and lighter products

of farm and factory such as potatoes, watermelons, cheese and butter, linens, straw hats, boots

and shoes, were carried overland for considerable distances in horse- or ox-drawn wagons.

Even odoriferous materials such as nightsoil or the wastes from tanneries and slaughterhouses

were carried in tight covered wagons from the cities into the country for use as farm fertilizer. It

was not uncommon for droves of cattle to be herded for many miles over the highways, either

from one grazing place to a better one or to a slaughterhouse; this was why picturesque picket

fences were erected before so many New England houses in those days – not for beautification,

but to keep passing herds from trampling the front yards and gardens.

Many foods, whether fish, flesh, fruit or vegetable, were produced near where they were

consumed, so there was little incentive to freight those necessities over any but relatively short

distances. Trees for fuel and timber were grown in farm woodlots, and locally-mined "bog iron"

ore (limonite) served for the manufacture of tools and hardware and, during the Revolution,

cannonballs. Shoe leather came from the hides of home-grown cattle, clothing and bedding

from cloth made by housewives from flax and home-raised sheep. In pre-railroad New England,

only a few exotic items, such as sugar and its by-product molasses, coffee and tea and, we have

to admit, slaves, came from afar, and sailing ships were the means of carrying these.

Yet as the countryside became increasingly denuded of trees for fuel and building materials,

and enterprising New Englanders discovered there was profit to be made in the centralized

manufacture of cloth, footwear, iron tools and other useful items, home manufacture of these

products decreased and in proportion, intertown highway transport grew.

During this same period, as improvements were made to the roads, wagons and carriages

began to replace the saddles, pillions and panniers that had been popular since colonial days.[7]

The first regular public passenger transport between Providence and Boston was commenced

in 1767 by a Providence tavern-owner named Thomas Sabin, who drove his own stagecoach

over the road by way of the Massachusetts towns of Attleborough (the part now called North

Attleboro, not the "East Attleborough" which is the present-day city), Wrentham, Foxborough,

Walpole and Dedham. His station of origin was the Richard Olney tavern on North Main Street,

Providence. Sabin made the once-a-week 45-mile trip in two days, using the same pair of

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horses and stopping halfway at a convenient farmhouse, probably in Foxborough, the high point

on the route, where the animals and his bone-racked passengers might get some needed rations,

rest and relaxation. If an accident such as a thrown horseshoe or a broken axle befell Sabin on

the road, the trip might take four days. Fare for the ride was about two shillings for every ten

miles.

Sabin required his regular passengers to book their trips a week ahead of schedule.

Sometimes there were no bookings, in which case he cancelled that week's trip and stayed

home to repair his stagecoach or work in his garden. But in general his business did well

enough to inspire others to set up rival lines.[8] The Boston, Walpole, Wrentham and

Providence Line was the first organized stagecoach company to serve the public between those

towns and cities. In a case of connived rate-setting that would give today's regulatory bodies

fits, all the stage operators agreed to charge the equivalent of four dollars (not far from a week's

income for the average person) for the run. A typical coach contained only nine inside seats,

though some hardy riders perched on top, so business at first could not have been heavy.

The weather could be brutal on persons and livestock traveling over the road. During the

blizzard of late December 1779 and early January 1780, when snow fell for seven days to a

depth of four feet on the level and 10 feet in drifts, an ox team bound from Boston to

Attleborough was found later on the road with the driver and animals frozen to death, the oxen

standing in their traces supported by the snow.[9]

Private wheeled vehicles were owned before the Revolution only by the well-to-do or the

favored few. Mansfield historian Jennie Copeland claims that the Reverend Roland Green

(1736-1808) was the first in town to own a "shay" (as the lightweight two-wheeled one-horse

chaise was called in the Yankee vernacular). He was roundly criticized by a relative of mine

named Skinner from the rural west part of town, who thought Green was "putting on airs to be

riding around in a covered carriage." But Green's pious predecessor, my ancestor and

Mansfield's first minister the Reverend Ebenezer White, owned a chaise even before that, and at

his death in 1761 bequeathed it to his widow Hannah along with a horse to draw it. (He also

owned a "horse cart.") Just keeping a chaise could cost you money; the yearly tax on the vehicle

ran to the equivalent of one or two dollars, a sum not to be sneezed at in those impecunious

times.[10]

Soon after the Revolution horse-drawn wagons became more common. But even then not

everyone owned a horse and only a few owned wagons, so that if the average man wished to

travel by way of a route not covered by stagecoaches, perhaps to attend a funeral or for

5

business, he would hire transportation from a well-heeled neighbor. An old account book tells

us that to hire a wagon in 1781 cost four pence a mile, and a wagon trip from Mansfield to

Springfield came to one pound four shillings. Two years later the rate went down to three pence

a mile. In that same year, 1783, a wagon from Mansfield to Boston would set one back six

shillings. A Mansfield resident charged 10 pence for his "mair to go to Attleboro," and two

shillings for a horse to Taunton, 10 miles. By 1815 a "wagon to Taunton" cost one shilling,

eight pence.[11]

Stagecoach service over the roads between Boston and New Haven commenced in 1783[12]

and daily stage trips between Boston and Providence began in 1793, the fare one way being a

dollar.[13]

A 1797 “almanack” lists the proprietors of ten “houses of entertainment” (taverns) in five towns along the stage road between Boston and Providence, with the mileages, as follows:

Roxbury Whiting 8

Dedham Ames or Gay 11

“ Ellis 14

“ Everett 16

Walpole Downs 19

“ Hadden 21

Wrentham Mann 27

“ Holman 32

Attleborough Newell 36

Providence Olney, Dexter,

Dagget, or Aldrich 45[14]

These conveniently-spaced houses served somewhat the function of the later railroad station

combined with a village hotel. It will be noticed that the overall highway distance is only one

mile greater than the present rail distance from Boston to Providence.

Meanwhile, the mails continued to go through. In 1800 mail stages for Providence and New

York left Colonel Israel Hatch‟s Royal Exchange Coffee House on State Street, Boston, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings at 8 o'clock. The Providence leg of the journey on

good days might take as little as 10 hours; to New York took the remainder of the week.[15]

Thus the germ of an idea was there that led in time to coordinated land-water transportation

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between Boston and New York, the land portion of the trip between Boston and Providence

being covered at first by highway, later by railroad.

It was early in this busy era around the beginning of the 19th century that the desire for even

faster stages led to the decision to do something about the miserable intercity highways. A

group of Rhode Island financiers got the idea of fixing up the Providence-Boston road, which

was in particularly horrific condition, and turning it into a toll turnpike, and on 29 October 1800

they were granted an act of incorporation by the Rhode Island legislature.

Thus the Ocean State's part of the proposed highway. What about the Bay State's? In those

days, the supposedly united states acted almost like foreign countries – we will see, when the

railroad comes along, how every corporate effort stopped cold at the state line, to be picked up

by a different corporate entity on the other side of the frontier.[16] In 1802 the Massachusetts

Great and General Court (as the legislature was and is wordily entitled) entertained a petition

from Ephraim Starkweather and 32 other Attleborough-area "men of prominence" praying to be

incorporated as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike Company for the purpose of completing what

Rhode Island had started. They proposed to improve the post road (much of which is now

Massachusetts Route 1A) from the Rhode Island state line at Pawtucket bridge to Dedham and

charge tolls for its use.

The General Court on 2 March approved their petition with an unasked-for slant. Seized by

the straight-line craze gripping those who had read in their history books of ancient Roman

roads but had never built them, rather than granting the request that the existing highway be

made better they required that a new road be built, to "run as near a straight line as a legislative

committee shall direct." This route not only would be shorter but, the Boston legislators felt,

would permit faster schedules than the existing post road.[17]

On 30 March 1802 several other men met at the Attleborough home of Joseph Holmes and

formed the Citizens' Coach Company for the purpose of operating stages over the proposed

turnpike. Colonel Israel Hatch, a prominent citizen and a veteran of the Revolutionary War who

in 1789 had been appointed first postmaster of the town of Attleborough by President George

Washington, was chosen moderator and Fisher Ames (1758-1808) of Dedham, a distinguished

Federalist and a founding member of the United States Congress, was elected president.

Construction of this part of the new bee-line toll pike began from the Boston end in 1802 or

'03, passing through Dedham in the latter year, and in 1806 it opened for traffic from the Boston

suburb of Roxbury through Attleborough to Pawtucket. At its intersection with an existing toll

road that ran between Mendon and Rehoboth, Massachusetts, now the junction of Mendon

7

Road and South Washington Street in South Attleborough, a toll house had been built in 1732 to

serve the latter road. This structure also became the point where fees on the new pike were

collected. There was no gate, but the keeper stopped all teams to demand the tolls, the smallest

of which was three cents.[18]

True to the wishes of the General Court, the Norfolk and Bristol turnpike in its 42 miles had

only three curves: the first between Forest Hills and Dedham where it dodged around a boulder

too big to be moved, the second a near 90-degree bend in Dedham and the third to avoid the

wooded, granite-ribbed hulk of High Rock hill in Wrentham and Foxborough. Unfortunately,

the straight-line craze, while it looked dandy on paper and in the minds of the legislators, kept

the undeviating highroad away from the small towns that most needed it and led it over steep

grades that could have been gone around and during the infamous New England "mud season"

were almost unnegotiable by horses or ox teams struggling with heavy loads.

Even so, average travel time thereby between Boston and Providence was cut to a tolerable

10 hours if (as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration likes to say) all went well,

which too often it didn't. Toll houses, gates or bars were erected at several points along the road

where the fees were collected: in the Forest Hills section of Boston, at South Walpole and, as

already mentioned, South Attleborough.

Horses were changed three times on route. The first swap was at Dedham, the second at South

Walpole, the third and last at Attleborough. South Walpole "was the half-way place, where

dusty and weary travellers alighted from the coach to sit down to a good breakfast or dinner at

the Old Fuller tavern." Thirteen stages a day stopped there, and it was common to find "140 fat,

sleek horses in the stalls, and 150 travellers in the house." Occasionally the new pike lived up to

its reputation for speed: A driver named Sulloway, in 1878 still living in Stoughton,

Massachusetts, once took a four-horse stage from Providence to the Tremont House, Boston, in

a dashing three hours 27 minutes. How many horses foundered on route is not recorded. Other

well-known stage drivers at the time were Charles P. Williams and William Tillson, both of

Mansfield.[19]

To repay the organizers for their unnecessarily costly work in building up hill and down dale

the company charged exorbitant fees – up to $3 to travel the full length of the pike. Regular fare

between Boston and Providence for Citizens Coach passengers was $2.50. "But 'business chaps'

[to and from New York] who were in a hurry were put through on the steamboat express stages

at $3 a ticket, only six passengers taken per coach. Competition brought the price down once to

50 cents, then came reckless management and bankruptcy, of course."[20] The Citizens Coach

8

Line paid the turnpike company $5000 annual rental for use of the road.

These high fares proved counter-productive and drove many travelers away from the toll

road, so that three years passed before the investors realized any dividends.[21] Another

problem was crime, particularly for the toll house keepers late at night, as it became clear that

Old England enjoyed no monopoly on highwaymen.

Once the turnpikes were completed, six-horse freight wagons began to replace the plodding

ox teams, which tended to founder in summer because of the susceptibility of oxen to heat.[22]

Meanwhile, "accommodation" stages ("specials" or "locals" the railroads would call them

later) began running on other routes. By 1808, "Uncle Jesse" Smith was operating out of the

Weatherby Tavern in Taunton, the seat or "shire town" of Bristol County, Massachusetts, where

his teams tied up and the drivers boarded. One Russell established the first coach line between

Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts, carrying too the mail. Soon stages were running

thrice weekly over that route by way of Taunton, providing rural readers with up-to-date Boston

newspapers. Another line opened cross-country between Taunton and Providence, connecting

with existing routes.[23] In 1807 the Boston and Taunton Turnpike Company erected the

Washington Hotel, later Swan's Tavern, in Canton, Massachusetts, as a stagecoach station. As

more and more people caught the intercity travel bug, business grew as did the number of stage

lines and their trips.

By 1813-14 stages operated from Newport, Rhode Island, and New Bedford to Boston, and

from Taunton to Boston and Providence on a daily basis. Later, mail stages ran across

“Seconcke Plain” to Warren and Bristol, Rhode Island, and Wareham, Massachusetts. These latter operations centered at Taunton, and it was a grand sight at 11 each morning to see the

four-horse teams come thundering up to the hotel that served as their terminus,[24] where the

lordly driver, hero of all boys and many grown men, would fling the reins of his panting steeds

to the waiting stable-boy.

But what if a Bostonian wished to go to New York or farther? The best way to reach New

York City or Philadelphia from Boston was to leave The Hub at 5 a. m. aboard a horse-drawn

stagecoach to Newport, arriving there at 6 p. m. after an uncomfortable trip over the bone-

breaking roads, and from there go by a coastal sailing packet that was the forerunner of the

storied Fall River Line. Travel by way of this route, though, could be chancy: two stage drivers

froze to death on a local run; and when a coach reached the foot of Townsend Hill in Newport

an extra pair of horses was attached and the male passengers got out and walked to lighten the

9

load.[25] If our Bostonian was subject to seasickness, the stage line to New York via the

Connecticut shore was still no picnic, either; the trip lasted from four to six days depending on

the season and the condition of the roads. Nor should anyone think the coaches were immune to

fatal accidents. It shocks our gilded impressions of those "good old days" portrayed in Currier

and Ives prints when life supposedly was slow-paced, safe and serene to learn that more

travelers were killed and injured annually in Massachusetts stagecoach accidents than were to

die yearly on the Commonwealth's railroad trains at their worst; and that even taking into

account the increase in both population and travel, by mid-century trains would be "50 to 60

times safer" than stages.[26] Each driver had orders to "beat the opposition if he killed every

horse."[27] This mania for higher speed, coupled with washouts, broken bridges, fallen trees,

drunken or racing drivers and failed brakes on downgrades were causing coaches to be ditched

with increasing frequency.[28]

That omnium gatherum of useful information The Old Farmer's Almanac for 1826 lists the

Boston-Providence stages going by way of Dedham, Walpole and Attleborough on what came

to be called the Lower Post Road, so named because the United States mails were carried over

the route. Quick to take advantage of this new Post Road was the aforesaid Colonel Israel

Hatch, who has been described as a “stagecoach and tavern mogul.” He had contracted to build

a part of the pike at seven dollars per rod (16-1/2 feet). In 1780 he had acquired the former

Maxcy's Tavern situated in the north part of Attleborough on the site of a colonial garrison

house, and operated it for years under the interesting name of the Steam Boat Hotel, though it

was far from salt water – so called because the swiftest stages that paused there were on route

to or from connections in Providence with the New York boats, taking one more step toward the

efficient land-water Boston to New York service that was to come. Hatch maintained the

Attleborough post office in his Steam Boat Hotel on the Boston-Providence mail route. The

hotel flourished until the coming of the railroad, after which predictably it went bankrupt.[29]

The town of Pawtucket, now in Rhode Island but until an adjustment of the state line in 1862

partly in Massachusetts, was situated on the Post Road and had several taverns, including

Slack's (built in 1776), Martin's and Pidge's.

The introduction by Downing and Abbot in 1827 of their New Hampshire-built Concord

coach, which with its low center of gravity and leather strap suspension was able to round

curves with greater speed and ease, so that for the first time passengers were provided with a

fairly comfortable ride, revolutionized stage travel. The coach came in three sizes, to

accommodate six, nine or twelve passengers. Mail sacks weighing up to 150 pounds could be

10

stowed in the leather “boot” along with the passengers‟ luggage. Maximum speed was 15 miles

per hour. Improvements to the highways and the typical American demand for even more haste

led to the establishment along the post route of additional relay stations where horses could be

changed and rested. This meant that if the driver could keep his team at an easy trot between

stations, the Boston-Providence run, which for Tom Sabin had been an overnight adventure,

could be made between dawn and dusk of one long summer day. So popular did the turnpike

eventually become with travelers and intercity shippers that in its peak year of 1829 it handled

an amazing 24,100 passengers and 27,000 tons of freight, the stages making 328 runs per

week.[30]

Sixteen stages a day passed over this toll road. Sometimes the rival lines raced each other,

which must have been a hair-raising spectacle, especially for the passengers. On certain

occasions high speeds were reached: a message from President Andrew Jackson was sped from

Providence wharf to Boston by relays of riders in the almost unbelievable time of one hour, 40

minutes – if true, an average speed of 25 miles per hour, not to be bested by the very early

steam trains! To accomplish this feat, the fastest horses and best riders were picked. Post boys,

each holding his horse, were stationed every mile along the route. The message was attached to

a whip handle. As each post boy saw the messenger approaching, he swung into his saddle and

urged his horse to a mad gallop until the messenger drew alongside. At full speed the whip was

passed, like the baton in a relay race, and the latest rider carried it a mile before relaying it to

the next.[31] And in 1832 a traveler reported that his stagecoach was “rattled from Providence to Boston” in four hours, 50 minutes including all stops.[32]

Yet for all its popularity the turnpike, like the later railroad passenger and commuter services,

was never a howling financial success and paid dividends of only one or two percent. The old

road that Starkweather and his associates originally wanted to repair had easier grades, and

drivers of heavy freight wagons preferred it to the toll road, causing it to be known as a

"shunpike." Over the decades, the steepest and hence least used section of the turnpike between

South Walpole and Attleborough deteriorated to hardly more than a bee-line path through the

woods.

Stages also ran over the 41-mile Boston and Taunton Turnpike from Boston via Sharon and

Canton to Taunton, pausing midway of their journey at the Jonathan Cobb tavern (now 41 Bay

Road in Sharon) which housed the East Sharon post office. A Mansfield man named Noah

Fillebrown relayed freight between Taunton and Boston by means of slow but sure ox teams.

11

Once a week, more or less, oxen brought freight from Taunton to Fillebrown's house on what is

now Branch Street, where the driver would put up overnight. The house served as a relay

station. Next morning the driver and his team returned to Taunton, while Fillebrown with his

own oxen took the load to Boston. No racing there! They lumbered over the roads at a rate

which might average only one mile per hour.[33]

Passenger and freight business on nearly all the highways continued to thrive right up until

the coming of the railroads. Haymarket Square in Boston was the hub of a network of coach

and wagon lines that sprawled in all directions into the surrounding country. By 1835, more

than two thousand mail and passenger stagecoaches entered and departed Boston weekly. The

earliest of the Providence-bound coaches left Boyden's City Tavern and the Marlboro Hotel at

the unseemly hour of 3 a. m., so that half-awake passengers might breakfast at the first stop in

Walpole. In that fateful year 80 scheduled public stage routes, mostly one-day trips, terminated

in Boston.

I say "fateful," because 1835 was the year that three railroads radiating like spokes from the

Boston hub – the Boston and Worcester, Boston and Providence and Boston and Lowell –

opened. When the railroads entered the picture, men whose businesses depended directly or

indirectly on the turnpikes were gripped by worry and disbelief – worry that the railroads would

put the kibosh on all economic enterprise along the pikes, coupled with disbelief that such a

thing could happen. “They could not conceive it possible for such a mighty enterprise as the turnpike to be abandoned without accomplishing the ruin of all who derived subsistence there-

from, and in this opinion were supported by the prevailing sentiment of the country at that time,

which regarded railroads as a curse rather than a blessing.”[34] After Boston and Providence

trains commenced meeting the New York boats at Providence, the staging business, which until

then had grown year by year, soon became obsolescent and, except for a few local branch lines

connecting with the railroads, closed.[35]

Because of the trains, which profited from the ready market already enjoyed by the stage

companies, the struggling Norfolk and Bristol turnpike by 1843 was considered a failure, and

that part of it in Norfolk County was converted to a public highway. Taxpayers in the

Attleborough area fought this turnover, preferring to pay tolls and let the corporation maintain

the pike. But by 1855 even that portion had become part of the local tax-supported road

system[36] which ironically, in the following century, together with the automobile, was to

destroy the short-run passenger train.

12

* * *

Before the iron horse came snorting and trampling onto the scene, another form of cross-

country transport enjoyed a short-lived popularity. That was the canal system. Canals as a

solution to inland transport problems had enjoyed success in the flatter parts of Europe in the

17th and 18th centuries and in England during the 19th. The first canal in New England and

perhaps in North America dates from about 1638, when residents of Dedham dug a ditch

through Purchase Meadow, diverting some of the water of the Charles River into the head of

East Brook, which ran into Neponset River. East Brook then became known for reasons that

escape me as Mother Brook. Not only did this narrow gutter provide waterpower for Dedham

mills, jump-starting industry in the town, but long shallow-bottomed rowboats were used on it

to bring farm produce to Boston markets.[37]

After the Revolution, Americans in the Atlantic states began facing more and more toward

the golden west, and their next step was to build canals in that direction. New Englanders, to

whom the continental glacier had bequeathed hardscrabble stony soils, were gradually turning

away from farming and toward the manufacture of machinery, iron products and textiles, while

the newly settled near-Middle West with its deep rich soils was producing mountains of grain,

meat and other food supplies, and lumber. The need to move manufactured goods west and

farm and forest products east in quantity and at low cost (as things were, the price of transport

far exceeded the market value of the products) inspired the idea of canals reaching from near

the seaboard toward the lands of the setting sun.

Though it was outside New England, the longest and most successful of these waterways was

the 363-mile Erie Canal from Albany, head of navigation on the Hudson River, to Buffalo,

prophesied by steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton, Jr., as early as 1797 and for which the first

spadeful of earth was turned in 1817. At first derisively called “Clinton‟s big ditch” after its primary proponent, De Witt Clinton, the Erie Canal when completed in 1825 transformed the

"howling wilderness" of upper New York State into a chain of flourishing metropolitan centers;

opened the "West" (as the American Mid-West was then called) to migration and settlement;

and because it connected the city of New York and the Hudson River with Lake Erie, made

New York, not Philadelphia and certainly not Boston, the number one port on the Atlantic coast.

Many Bostonians early on thought they saw advantages in cheap water transportation to and

from the West. (They failed to foresee that the eventual end-to-end joining of the Erie Canal

with a railroad from Albany to Boston would by mid-19th century write the obituary of the

New England farm, rendering it unable to compete with Ohio Valley producers and their rich

13

plowable soils[38] and forcing Yankee farmers to go West or to take jobs in the growing

number of factories.) In 1792 a corporation was formed to dig a waterway from Boston Harbor

to the Connecticut River. But the public debt left over from the Revolution was so great and the

tax-paying populace so strapped that the funds weren't there and the idea was given up, at least

until better times.

Four years later a proposition was put before the Massachusetts General Court to build a

canal diagonally across-country from Boston to Millville, Massachusetts, near the Rhode Island

line, and from there up the Blackstone River Valley to Worcester and thence on west to the

Connecticut River at Springfield. The legislature approved this roundabout variation on the

previous project, but again no money could be raised, though the 45-mile Providence-Worcester

section of the canal, conceived in 1798, eventually was to open in 1828.

But the canal idea refused to die. New Englanders in the know remembered that 18th-century

British engineers had proved that whereas a pack horse could carry one-eighth of a ton, a draft

horse could pull two tons in a wagon on a hard-surfaced road, 20 tons on a river and 50 tons on

the still waters of a canal,[39] assuming of course a parallel tow-path in the latter two cases.

In 1803-04 the 27-mile Middlesex Canal opened (though not completed until 1808), joining

Boston Harbor at Dock Square with Chelmsford and the future Massachusetts city of Lowell on

the navigable Merrimack River. Twenty locks enabled this waterway to surmount an elevation

of 104 feet on route. More than half the length of the canal was "embanked" or raised above

ground level, much of this embanking taking it through swamps where, as if foreshadowing a

problem encountered 30 years later in the building of the Boston and Providence Rail Road, the

fill at first "sank to extraordinary depths."[40] (Amazing how we Yankees were always

surprised by our own swamps!) In 1811 the canal was extended to Manchester, New

Hampshire.

The Middlesex was North America‟s largest engineering work until that time and New England's first major canal. Though it worked, the boats proved so slow that it attracted mostly

low-cost bulk freight. In summer and fall lush grass and weeds turned the canal bed into a

jungle, impeding the slow natural southward flow of the water. Worse, the canal was frozen

shut[41] and unusable for five months in winter, allowing muskrats freedom to tunnel at their

hearts' content, collapsing the banks (the company placed a bounty of 50 cents a head on the

pesky critters), and shippers then were forced to use the parallel highway, at greater cost.

Other canals were completed in western Massachusetts and in Connecticut. One proposed

14

inland waterway would have invaded the territory of the future Boston and Providence Rail

Road. This was a canal from Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Narragansett Bay. The

Commonwealth looked into the possibility of excavating such a ditch and a report was

submitted in 1808, but work never got under way.[42] As time went by, however, Boston

merchants who watched the Blackstone Canal between Worcester and the port of Providence

inching towards completion began to fret that these subversive “foreign” waterways would divert inland Massachusetts trade away from the Boston-to-New York route and to the Rhode

Island capital.

Following the long post-Revolution period of debt and depression came the 1807 embargo,

the stalemated War of 1812 and the tariff of 1816. These, harmful as they were to overseas trade

– the damages incurred by the War of 1812 drove some Yankees to consider secession from the

Union –, gave impetus in New England to develop internal commerce and domestic

manufactures. But the great obstacle in the way of these aspirations continued to be the

inadequate means of overland transport. Since the highways couldn't be much more improved,

longer and better canals began to be looked to as the only way to relieve the strangulation of

profitable interchange (or, as it was known in the quaint language of our ancestors,

“intercourse”). February 1825, with the Erie Canal only eight months from completion, saw a revival of the

Boston-to-the-Connecticut River canal idea. As Boston merchants chewed their fingernails to

the quick for fear the new Erie waterway would bring the lucrative western markets under the

control of their New York rivals, the General Court appointed a commission to investigate not

only the feasibility of the proposed Massachusetts canal but (in 1828) the grander notion of

extending it farther westward over or through the Berkshire hills by means of locks or a tunnel

– something like the later Hoosac railroad tunnel – to the Hudson River at Albany. This 200-

mile route, which it was hoped would divert western traffic away from New York and bring it to

Boston, may have been surveyed that year. Some visionary person even unofficially suggested

the far-out idea that a "highway with rails" might be laid along the proposed path![43] – but

again the whole project was shelved because of the expense.

On a more modest scale, a canal from the navigable Taunton River at Taunton across the

flatlands of southeastern Massachusetts to Plymouth was contemplated, roughly along the line

of the present highway Route 44, but died before it was born. It was just as well. With their

built-in slowness and various seasonal problems, few of these narrow waterways were reliable

or even paid their costs. In 1818 someone had an even wilder notion: the possibility of a salt

15

water ship canal cutting off Cape Cod at Sandwich; but it was to be 1914 before this dream

materialized.

Construction of the Blackstone Canal, 30 years in the birthing but not chartered until 1823,

began in 1824 and the ditch, shoveled out mostly by immigrant Irish “navvies,” was opened for its full length with 48 locks in October 1828.[44] The rationale behind it had been to capture

the central Massachusetts market for Rhode Island entrepreneurs. But the brave attempt was in

vain. From its beginning the canal proved unprofitable; like many of life's adventures, it was

more attractive in the anticipation than in the completion. Only four years after it opened, trains

of the Boston and Worcester Rail Road steamed into the latter city, thereby skimming off the

cream of central Massachusetts business for Boston and leaving Rhode Island with the

skimmed milk that New England farmers called “blue ruins;” while 12 years after that, a charter was granted to the Providence and Worcester Railroad, the success of which wrote finis to the

Blackstone Canal after only 20 years of service. Indeed, it would be proven conclusively that

even the best of canals could not compete with a railroad laid out on a direct route and having

no heavy grades,[45] though the Providence and Worcester (as anyone knows who has ridden

it) was crooked enough to give the passengers vertigo.

Peering back with telescopic vision through the clear air of the summit of Mount Hindsight,

it is odd to note how the promoters and builders of intercity canals remained blind to the

coming threat of the railroads, even as the tracks were being laid that would put their poky

waterways out of business. To investors and businessmen, canals seemed like the transport of

the rainbow-halo‟d future. It was not until the completed Boston and Lowell Rail Road grabbed off a lion's share of the traffic formerly carried on the parallel Middlesex Canal that even the

most hard-headed New England businessmen, shippers and the public admitted that railroads

were a success and were here to stay.

But the equine enthusiasts were equally blind. As the Mansfield historian wrote, "When a

good horse could travel ten or twelve miles an hour and a stage could go from Boston to New

York in three days, why spend great amounts of money to lay rails and try the doubtful and

dangerous experiment of running a steam-drawn coach over them? So thought many of the

people of [Mansfield] when they heard that such a railroad was to be put through . . . ."[46]

In inland towns like Mansfield through which the Boston and Providence Rail Road soon

would etch its indelible mark the transport of goods and passengers was still handled by animal-

drawn highway vehicle, saddle-horse or on foot. Mansfield, which later in the 19th century

16

became the railroad crossroads of southeastern New England and in the 20th century the

highway crossroads, lay off the beaten paths of commerce. The Providence turnpike bypassed it

to the west, the Taunton pike to the east. No scheduled stagecoaches ran through the town, and

Noah Fillebrown operated the only freight line, ox-drawn and deadly slow. Lacking canals,

navigable streams and through highways, no other means of transport were available, and with

such limited ways of moving quantities of goods and people, the output of Mansfield's

industries remained small, while personal travel, at least by our standards, continued to be

severely constrained.

By now several stage lines were making the journey between Boston and New York. Small

thanks to better highways, and the optimistic Mansfield historian to the contrary, the travel time

had been reduced to four long, body-jolting days on the road separated by three all-too-brief

nights at noisy, lumpy-mattressed hostelries along the way. The bone-weary passengers got to

their destinations late the fourth day, convinced there must be a better way.

* * *

There was a better way. Permanent relief came at first in the form of improved coastal

shipping. New England, jutting cornerwise into the Atlantic, had based its economy from early

days on a system of coastal water transport. As early as 1706 an ancestor of mine named

Captain James Codding, who lived in Newport though by 1730 he had removed to New York

City, owned a sloop that sailed between Newport, Boston, Stonington (Connecticut) and New

York, carrying ore for his father-in-law's iron works, cotton, sheep and (possibly) smuggled

rum, molasses and slaves. (He had one hair-raising escape from what he believed to be a pirate

ship.)

By the late 1700s sailing voyages operating on fairly regular schedules between Providence

and New York took from one day to a week, depending on fickle winds and weather. With

experience, the elapsed time got better, as did the accommodations. The sailing packets that

passengers who were brought by stage to Newport or Providence might take to New York or

Philadelphia were speedy sloops of 100 or so tons with comfortable staterooms and first-rate

meals. The fare was not cheap – in 1815 the price from Newport or Providence to New York

was ten dollars, two week‟s pay for the average working man, though working men seldom traveled. But with a favorable wind and in the protected reach of Long Island Sound the

voyage, if Neptune smiled, might be completed in 18 hours.

The reason for making the first part of the trip by coach, rough-riding though it might be, was

to avoid the danger of voyaging in the open Atlantic from Boston around Cape Cod and outside

17

Nantucket Island, where many ships, including the 1620 Mayflower, had been blown off course

or even foundered.

Steam came to the waterways before it reached the railways. In 1813 Captain Elihu J.

Bunker, who had operated a fleet of sloops on the Hudson River, began plying Long Island

Sound in a new steamboat called Fulton. Another steamer, this one built by the man for whom

Bunker's vessel was named, Robert Fulton, Jr., of Clermont on the Hudson fame, soon made its

debut on these coastal runs. This was Firefly, an all too apt name for a wood-burning tub whose

smokestack spouted frightening sheets of flame and sparks. (At night, it looked to those aboard

sailing vessels like a ship on fire.) A ten-year-old boat only 81 feet long, built for Hudson River

service and driven by a low-pressure 60-horsepower engine, Firefly failed to improve much on

the schedules of the fast sailing packets; in 1817 she took 28 hours to chug from Newport to

New York. For a while, beginning 28 May of that year, her run was abbreviated to between

Newport and Providence; but when the packet boats reduced their fare to 25 cents per

passenger, the underpowered Firefly was yanked from duty.

In 1822 coastal service improved. A steamboat controlled by the New York State monopoly

of Robert Fulton and Robert R. Livingston (Livingston had died in 1813, Fulton in 1815, but

the monopoly lived on in their names) began regularly scheduled trips from New York through

Long Island Sound and up Narragansett Bay to Providence, stopping at Newport on the way

and connecting with the stages for Boston. Fare from New York to Newport was nine dollars

and to Providence ten. In 1825 a better-performing craft than Firefly, named Washington, built

in 1814 for service on the Potomac, was placed on the New York-Newport-Providence runs,

followed in 1827 by Chancellor Livingston, in 1828 by the more roomy Benjamin Franklin and

by the elegant President in 1829.

The side-wheeler Franklin, as an example of these commodious steamers, was built in the

Brown and Bell shipyard on New York City‟s East River according to the plans and under the direction of Captain Bunker, the "well-known patriarch of steam navigators." She measured 144

feet in length and 53 feet over the paddle guards, carried two engines and three masts and when

she entered service in September 1828 was considered "the crack boat of the Sound." The first

advertisement of her regular passage was dated 4 October 1828; she left Providence daily at

noon. Bunker himself captained President. His "office" and the passenger cabin on the overnight

trip from Providence to New York on Christmas Eve 1836 were heated by three barrels of

anthracite coal from West Mansfield's newly opened Hardon mine. This coal most likely was

freighted to Providence aboard the Boston and Providence Rail Road, whose track ran less than

18

a half mile from the mine portal.[47]

This service by around 1830 had become so successful that rival companies started putting

their vessels on the same runs. These "boats" (as they were called – never “ships”) still burned wood for fuel, and the 15- or 20-hour trips required so much cordwood that the decks were

almost covered with stacks of it, so that they must have looked like sea-going woodpiles, no one

seeming to realize or care about the danger this flammable material posed. When the wind was

in the right direction, sails assisted the steam power. Despite all this, the fire-trap boats were

well-patronized, as they proved a great betterment over the previous three- or four-day

endurance trial of the Boston and New York stagecoaches.

All that was needed now was that the stages be eliminated by a speedy and efficient railroad

connecting Boston to the wharves at Providence and by waterborne extension to New York.

NOTES

1. Pierce 1991: 41.

2. Pixley.

3. Molloy 1994.

4. Stagecoaches were so called because they made their trip in "stages" from one station to another. Eventually,

at the most efficiently operated of these stops, the horses could be changed "handsomely in one minute," a better

time than the New Haven R. R.'s swap between steam or diesel and electric engines at New Haven, which at its

fastest took four minutes.

5. Copeland 1929a, 1929b, 1930a.

6. These commodities among others are enumerated by Asa Sheldon (1862/1988: 8-80) of Wilmington, Mass.,

who, working as a teamster, on occasions freighted hops from northeast Massachusetts as far as New York City,

Philadelphia and Baltimore. He once carried a load of artillery grapeshot to Vergennes, Vt., and on arrival sold

oxen, horse, harness and yoke (ibid.: 70-1). On some of his longer trips he used a combination of animal-drawn

vehicle and packet boat. Thoreau, in Concord, Mass., in 1852 writes of "loads of hay coming down from the country

nowadays" over the roads, and notes that the railroads did not yet carry hay (Journal 8 Feb.).

7. H. S. Russell 1982: 142.

8. Belcher 1938; Newbury 2000.

9. Pierce 1991: 19.

10. Copeland 1930a.

11. Copeland 1929a. See this monograph pp. 325-327 for the unexplained use of English monetary units after

the Revolution.

12. H. S. Russell 1982: 141.

13. Molloy 1994.

19

14. Low 1797.

15. Mileages Boston to New York via the Lower Post Road listed in Low‟s 1797 “almanack”: Providence 45, Stonington 108, New Haven 166, New York 255. The trip involved three unbridged river crossings: Groton ferry at

Thames R., mile 116; a “Rope-Ferry” at Connecticut R., mile 122, and “Saybrook Ferry” [sic] at Housatonic R.,

mile 132. Compare present-day railroad mileages: Providence 44, Stonington 93, New Haven 157, New York

Grand Central Terminal 229 or Pennsylvania Station 231.

16. In the present day when the various states of the U. S. are truly united, it seems odd that 150 or 200 years

ago the colonial mentality still prevailed to such a degree that state lines posed legal and political obstacles as

formidable as the borderlines of Balkan principalities. The difficulties faced by a corporate endeavor of any kind in

passing from one state to another will appear again and again in this history, and even stymied the Boston &

Providence R. R. Corp. in its first attempt simply to run a track between the capital cities of (to spell out their full

names) the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Until

President Andrew Jackson (of all people) after his inauguration in 1829 put his foot down, even the notion that any

“sovereign” state could peaceably withdraw from the union was not unacceptable. To further complicate interstate relations, the boundary line between Mass. and R. I. was moved in 1862, as will be explained.

17. Stedman 2001.

18 Stedman 2001, abstracted in part from an article by Ida Kent, Attleboro Sun 3 Apr. 1933. The 1732 toll house

still stands, with modifications, and since the 1970s has been owned by Ora A. Andrews Insurance agency. A tale

that George Washington once stopped there is unsubstantiated.

19. Mansfield News 1 Mar. 1878.

20. Fitchburg Daily Sentinel 13 Feb. 1878 in Mansfield News 1 Mar. 1878. The original Sentinel article was

written by a veteran Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford Railroad conductor and amateur historian who

chose to remain anonymous. Thus well before the later rail-steamboat connection we see intermodal service

involving stages and sailing vessels.

21. Kirby 1999, abstracted from Wood 1919.

22. H. S. Russell 1982: 141.

23. Atwood 1880: 17.

24. Atwood 1880: 116-7.

25. "According to experience," a grade of 1-3/4% (21 inches in 100 feet) was the maximum practicable ascent

for stages and also the steepest downgrade "on which stagecoaches can move at normal speed with complete safety .

. . with the coachman in full control of his horses and able to restrain them at will" (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 437).

This was not as steep as some present-day main line railroad grades.

26. Shaw (2001: 29-30), quoting as authority for this amazing statement Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Railroad

Commissioner for Mass. 1869-79. An attorney and historian, Adams made a special study of train mishaps, and

authored Notes on railway accidents, published in 1879.

27. Fitchburg Daily Sentinel 13 Feb. 1878 in Mansfield News 1 Mar. 1878. Italics in original.

28. Harlow 1946: 61. The British traveler Charles Lyell (1845: v. 2, p. 73) tells of a stagecoach operating between

Cincinnati and Cleveland that in three years had overturned 13 times.

29. Dix 1966; Moxham 2000. Hatch also owned three Boston gathering places: the White Horse on Newbury

St., the Lion and the Royal Exchange Coffee House.

20

30.. Belcher 1938; Molloy 1994. This seeming popularity does not mean that passengers had found the stages

more comfortable. Thoreau, traveling on Cape Cod, as late as 1849 describes a boarding ordeal reminiscent of

trying to cram a size 12 foot into a number 9 shoe: "This coach was an exceedingly narrow one, but as there was a

slight spherical excess over two on a seat, the driver waited until nine passengers had got in, without taking the

measure of any of them, and then shut the door after two or three ineffectual slams, as if the fault were all in the

hinges or the latch, – while we timed our inspirations and expirations so as to assist him." Stage travel, Thoreau

noted, was a great leveler in that total strangers, thus jammed together (as they are now on planes), got along like

old acquaintances.

31. Fitchburg Daily Sentinel 13 Feb. 1878 in Mansfield News 1 Mar. 1878. Another source gives the time from

Providence to Boston as a more reasonable 2 hours and 40 minutes, or 16 m. p. h.

32. Molloy 1994.

33. Copeland 1929a; reprint in Mansfield News 7 July 2000. Fillebrown lived 1790-1878.

34. Molloy 1994, quoting an unknown 19th century writer.

35. As late as Oct. 1881 a stage was still running regularly between the Old Colony Railroad‟s Foxboro depot and Wrentham, which lacked a railroad (“Freight,” in Mansfield News 14 Oct. 1881). An elderly resident of

Foxborough told me years ago that the coach was known as the “Tally-Ho,” which was the name given a stagecoach running between London and Birmingham, England.

36. Stedman 2001, abstracted from Wood 1919. The Norfolk & Bristol investors in 1843 petitioned the General

Court to accept the highway as a public road. The part of the pike in Norfolk County was accepted that same year,

but the Bristol County section through Attleborough was not accepted until 1855, a petition signed by 146

Attleborough citizens reading, "The undersigned had much rather pay the legal tolls on said road, when kept in good

order by the proprietors, than receive it as it now is as a gift." (Kirby 1999, abstracted from Wood 1919)

37. Mother Brook in the beginning provided a source of water power for Dedham's one corn mill. In later years

its flow operated a copper rolling mill that turned out planchets (blank disks) from which one-cent coins were

minted, three paper mills, a brush factory, a wire factory and the world's first water-driven broad powered loom

(Dedham Hist. Soc., undated). Gradually the brook became a receptacle for trash and yard debris, and during the

Aug. 1955 deluge overflowed, inconveniencing scores of homeowners. In 2001, with considerable effort and

expense, it was cleaned and improved.

38. When the Erie Canal opened in 1825 grain from the Ohio valley undersold Berkshire grain in the Boston

markets, and Massachusetts farmers moved west in a constant stream, leaving behind abandoned fields and

farmhouses (FWP-Mass. 1937: 46). The Erie Canal also made Chicago while it unmade New Orleans. In 1825, 95%

of exports from states along the Ohio River were shipped by way of New Orleans; in 1850, 69% went by way of the

Canal.

39. Lee 1987: 6-7.

40. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 294.

41. After the Boston & Lowell R. R. was completed, the canal company realized some winter profits by sawing

and harvesting ice from its canals in Lowell and shipping it by train to Boston at the rate of $1 a ton (Gerstner 1842-

43/1997: 304). But this was not what the canal had been dug for!

42. The 1808 report on the proposed Weymouth-Narragansett Bay canal was reprinted in U. S. House Document

No. 214, 19th Congress, First Session, 1826. As recently as 1908 the New York, Brockton & Boston Canal Co. (I

21

have also seen it listed as the Boston, Brockton & New York Canal Co., and do not know which version is correct)

published an 80-page prospectus for a canal from Fore River, near Quincy, Mass., to Narragansett Bay (evidence of

William J. Reid, letter to The Boston Globe 12 Mar. 1962; Quincy Patriot Ledger 27-28 Feb. 1991). Plans for this

canal were wiped out by the opening in 1914 of the Cape Cod Canal.

43. The Boston Patriot of 30 Nov. 1825 reprinted an item from another paper which combines daring with

caution: "The inquiry is often made as to the manner in which the summits of our hills can be surmounted by

carriages on railroads. It is suggested in answer to this inquiry, that stationary steam engines may be placed on their

summit levels, to assist the locomotive engine in passing over such hills." (Harlow 1946: 20)

44. The Blackstone Canal averaged 36 feet wide at the surface, 20 feet wide at the bottom and only 4 feet deep.

Sections of the canal made convenient use of the parallel Blackstone River; locks were still needed because the river

in a length of a little more than 40 miles falls 62 feet in Mass. and 409 feet in R. I.

45. When the Boston & Lowell R. R. in 1836 by offering greater speed and lower rates almost immediately

reduced traffic on the Middlesex Canal by two-thirds, visiting European civil engineer Gerstner (1842-43/1997:

295) wrote of "the remarkable circumstance that a canal in very good condition and having only 20 locks in the

course of 27 miles cannot compete with a railroad laid out on the most direct route possible and having no gradients

above 10 feet per mile, or 1 in 528, except for a half-mile." (The italics are Gerstner's.)

46. Copeland 1936-56: 59. Three days (apparently quoting the anti-railroad Col. Hatch of North Attleborough)

seems an optimistic figure for the trip.

47. Chase 1998: 262, 323-4. This use of Mansfield coal was a publicity stunt engineered by a promoter named

Foster Bryant and was not repeated. The oft-printed story that President's engines were powered by Mansfield coal

on this or any other trip is incorrect.

22

2 – The horse railways

The first "railroads" in America were amalgams of the horse-drawn stagecoach or wagon and the

train. On both sides of the Atlantic it long had been known that a horse could pull a much greater

load at faster speeds if the wheels of the vehicle rolled on planks or on metal plates or rails

which greatly decreased the friction.[1] As long ago as the 15th century European miners

pushed four-wheeled carts on two parallel rails.[2] At English mines for more than a hundred

years horses had been drawing "waggons" of coal over prepared plateways or tramways. By the

end of the 18th century some of these mine railways were nearly 20 miles long.[3] In America,

horse-powered tramways started small but began to be built to cover greater distances.

Disputes as to the first of these primitive railroads to operate in the United States will never

end. Claims to "firsthood" (“primary assertion,” the erudite term it) are apt to commence with the words, "Historians agree that . . . ." But historians are noted for disagreeing, and few careful

historians will touch the word "first" with a stick![4] Part of the problem lies in how one defines

a "railroad." Was it an inclined plane on which cars were raised by horses or stationary steam

engines and ropes and lowered the same way or by gravity? Or was it laid out on the level? Was

it built by an individual? By a corporation? Was it chartered by a state legislature? For private or

industrial purposes or as a commercial common carrier open to the public? Did it offer paid

passenger service? Did it employ animals for motive power, or steam?

My Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a railroad as a means of transport based on four

elements: track, trains, flanged wheels and locomotives.[5] By these arguable criteria, the

Quincy Granite Railway which I describe in this chapter was not a railroad. Neither were the

various other horse railways, including the abortive 1828 Boston and Providence, unless one

defines a horse as a hay-burning locomotive. The Boston and Providence steam road as

conceived in 1831 (see Chapter 3) was to be by definition a true railroad.

Massachusetts still has a fair claim to the "first." The historical accounts are a bit fuzzy, but

apparently in 1795 the Boston-born architect and public official Charles Bulfinch began leveling

the summit of Boston‟s Beacon Hill, then a three-peaked mini-mount known logically as

Tremont, in preparation for building the Massachusetts state house. Bulfinch laid down an

inclined wooden tramway with rails about two feet apart for lowering brick and clay from kilns

atop the summit to a street below.[6]

23

In 1796 or maybe 1799 developers began cutting down adjacent Mount Vernon, the

westernmost of Beacon Hill‟s three summits, so that streets and houses could be built atop it. For this project, Silas Whitney built another short inclined wooden railway to carry excavated gravel

down to the west side of Charles Street on the Charles River, a distance of a quarter mile, where

the material was dumped to fill part of the tidal marshes making up the so-called Back Bay.

Some say this tramway was double-tracked with spur tracks at each end. The loaded cars

supposedly descended the incline one at a time by gravity and the empties were hauled back up

the hill by a horse. (Maybe it hadn't occurred to anyone that the descending loads could draw the

empties up a double-tracked or “balanced” incline if they were connected by an endless rope

passing around a sheave at the top, thus giving poor hay-burning Old Plug a rest.)

Whitney‟s railway served until about 1805 or 1807.[7] The name of the English artist John

Singleton Copley is associated with one or two of these early efforts. Excavation continued until

about 1832, by which time Beacon Hill had been shaved down from 138 feet to 80 feet.[8] It is

odd, however, that the builders of the later Granite Railway say nothing of these ephemeral

railways, as one would expect they might, as inspiration or justification for their own very real

project.[9]

From then through the next several decades a number of crude private railways were built for

temporary use in different parts of the country.[10] Some even eschewed the use of horses.

About 1827 a small one-mile railway called a "bogey," which is worth mentioning because it

seems to have been overlooked by historians, was built in Sandwich on Cape Cod by the Boston

and Sandwich Glass Company to carry its products aboard hand-pushed cars from the factory

across a marsh to the Cape Cod Bay shore, where the glassware was loaded carefully into ocean-

going sloops to be shipped to Boston.[11]

* * *

Meanwhile, in 1826, what incorrectly has been called North America's first "genuine" railroad

was opened at Quincy, Massachusetts. This was known as the Granite Railway.[12]

Far from being the "oldest railroad in America," as was proudly engraved on a stone

monument at the site, the Granite Railway was the 12th or 13th in North America.[13] Neither,

as is often claimed, was it the first American railway to be chartered. That distinction went in

24

1815 to a never-built line in New Jersey.[14] But it was perhaps the first railway in the United

States and certainly the first in Massachusetts actually to operate under a charter[15] and was

without question the first successful and longest-lived American project of its kind; a part of its

right-of-way eventually became a freight spur of the Old Colony and Newport Railway and later

still of the New York, New Haven and Hartford.[16] The desire to raise a monument to

commemorate the misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill (which took place on Breed's Hill; Americans

never shone in their geography) in Charlestown is what brought the Granite Railway into being.

The famous obelisk, designed by the noted architects Alexander Parris and Solomon Willard,

was to be 221 feet high and built of local granite.

Once the Bunker Hill Monument Association was formed and had collected enough money to

pay for the foundation, Willard started the ball rolling by buying the old Mannex quarry

(renamed the Bunker Hill quarry) in the south part of West Quincy, northeast of the Blue

Hills.[17] This quarry was noted for its fine-textured, flaw-free, architectural-quality

granite.[18] Quarrying in Quincy had begun on a limited scale in the 1700s but under Willard it

took off in a big way. In 1825 he received a contract to provide the material for the monument,

the cornerstone of which was anchored that spring by a trowelful of mortar slapped in place by

the arthritic hands of the gout-ridden 67-year-old Marquis de La Fayette on 17 June.

(Construction of the shaft took longer than Boston's "Big Dig;" it was not finished until 1842.)

But there was a problem. Not only did the Mannex quarry lie on the other side of Boston

Harbor from the proposed monument, it was an unhandy four miles from tidewater, so that there

was no satisfactory way of getting the stone over to Charlestown. Previously, cut blocks from the

quarry used for building material in Boston had been hauled there by oxen or horses over the

roads, making a roundabout journey by way of the Neponset River bridge or Milton Lower

Falls.

But Willard formed an alliance with the wealthy Boston merchant and philanthropist Colonel

Thomas Handasyd Perkins[19] (everybody who was anybody in those days was at least a

colonel) who, having English associates who knew all about coal mine tramways, got the

brainstorm that a horse railway for transporting the cut stone could be built between the quarry

and a wharf on Gulliver Creek, which flowed into Neponset River in the town of Milton. From

there the blocks would be boated over to Charlestown. But how to power the railway? Despite

the fact that locomotives already were up and running in Old England, New Englanders had not

yet bought the wild idea that freight could be hauled by steam. Man's faithful servant, the

familiar and reliable dobbin, was the motive power of preference, and the Granite Railway was

25

to be no exception.

In other respects, Colonel Perkins's thinking was less conservative. His original idea was not

for a private industrial line like those serving the English mines, but a railway that might be used

as a genuine common carrier. This concept, however, did not pan out.

To build the road, Perkins latched onto a 37-year-old self-taught engineer, master mason,

building contractor and general all-round technical whiz named Gridley J. F. Bryant[20] who

could almost have served as the prototype for a Horatio Alger rags-to-riches story. Left fatherless

when a youngster, Bryant at age 15 was apprenticed to a builder in Boston and proved so apt at

that trade that when 21 he ventured into business on his own hook. He came out with the first of

his many mechanical inventions, a portable derrick, in 1823 (typically, he failed to patent it), and

very quickly attained the rank of master builder, obtaining the contract for the United States

Bank building in Boston and several public structures. Bryant already had worked with architect

Willard in preparing the foundation of the monument, and stood by to lend a steadying hand

when the aging Marquis de La Fayette helped mortar the cornerstone.

Inspired by what he had heard of England's as yet unbuilt Manchester and Liverpool Railway,

Bryant, in talking with Colonel Perkins, proposed laying out a track 2-3/4 miles long, with

branches totaling more than another mile, along which the granite blocks would be trundled on

horse-drawn cars from the quarry to the Gulliver Creek pier. From there, the stones would be

boated down to the Neponset and carried by schooner across the harbor to a dock at the foot of

Breed's (alias Bunker) Hill.

Perkins and others who had formed the Bunker Hill Monument Association decided to go

along with Bryant's plan, though only Perkins had faith in its success. On 4 January 1826

Bryant, Perkins, Solomon Willard, William Sullivan, Amos Lawrence, Isaac T. Davis and David

Moody petitioned the Massachusetts senate and house of representatives "in General Court

Assembled" that they be "incorporated under the name of The Granite Railway Company" for

the purpose of establishing a railway in the town of Quincy to carry stone to be used in building,

and to extend the subscription for raising the needed funds among many persons.

A precedent already existed in Massachusetts law whereby turnpike companies were

authorized to obtain a right-of-way through anyone's private property, paying a fair price for the

strip taken, and this was the intent of Bryant and his associates. The legislature, however, did not

offer Bryant's bright idea much promise. Earlier that month they had voted down money

intended for investigation of a much longer proposed railroad connecting Boston with Albany.

Gridley Bryant describes the inhospitable climate in which he approached the General Court:

26

I awaited the meeting of our Legislature in the winter of 1825 and 1826, and after every delay

and obstruction that could be thrown in the way, I finally obtained a charter, although there was great

opposition in the House. The question was asked: "What do we know about railroads?" "Whoever heard

of such a thing?" "Is it right to take people's land for a project that no one knows about?" "We have

corporations enough already." Such and similar objections were raised, and numerous restrictions

imposed, but it finally passed, by a small majority only. Unfavorable as the charter was, it was admitted

that it was obtained by my exertions; but it was owing to the munificence of Col. T. H. Perkins that we

were indebted for the whole enterprise. None of the first named men ever paid any assessments, and the

stock finally fell into the hands of Col. Perkins.[21]

After a delay of exactly two months and thanks to energetic lobbying by the colonel, the

special act of the legislature was passed 4 March 1826 granting the charter by a close vote and

authorizing the incorporation of the Granite Railway Company[22] for the sole purpose of

carrying stone from "Certain Quarries in the town of Quincy (known as the 'Bunker Hill Quarry'

or the 'Blue Hill Granite Quarries') to the tidewaters (on Neponset River)." Nightmares of

monopoly had frightened the Massachusetts politicians, who felt that land-taking should be

compensated for by public service, and one of several vexatious restrictions they hung like an

albatross around the neck of the new enterprise was that "any person shall be entitled to have

stone carried on the said cars and vehicles at pleasure, on payment of toll as aforesaid." In effect,

this turned a private railway track into a public toll highway, a concept that was to come back to

haunt both railroad owners and legislators in the not far distant future.

Perkins's associates should have heeded the old warning, "Beware what you ask for, because

you might get it." For no sooner was the charter in their hands than they stonewalled at risking

their precious capital in the scheme, and when they neglected to pay their assessments Perkins

took the whole stock himself.

What does a Yankee like Gridley Bryant do who has sub-contracted to build a railroad without

ever having seen one? He invents it, of course.[23]

Bryant had closely read of the development of similar projects in England.[24] He began

wisely by surveying several possible routes for the road before deciding on its optimum final

course through the towns of Milton and Quincy, and commenced construction 1 April.

Though the proprietors, in a wild but short-lived flight of daring, had actually thought about

27

importing English steam locomotives and iron rails, they changed their minds in favor of the

cheapness and local availability of horse-haulage and wooden rails capped with iron bars and

underpinned with granite. To stand up under the heavy loads and New England winter frost

heaves, Bryant's men dug a four-foot-deep trench six feet wide, built a continuous dry stone wall

along each side beneath where the rails were to lie and filled the space between the walls with

crushed granite rubble, of which there was no shortage, topped by earth and gravel to within six

inches of the upper surface, to form a path for the horses to be employed in pulling the cars.

At 8-foot intervals atop and across this base they laid granite "sleepers" from wall to wall.

These measured 8 to 14 inches wide, 12 to 18 inches deep and 7 to 7-1/2 feet long; some of them

weighed more than a ton. From this point on, the exact nature of the track structure is in some

doubt. It appears, however, that onto these stone crossties they bolted 6-by-12-inch pine or

hemlock longitudinal stringers (“waybeams,” they were called), set on edge, the bolts passing through 1-1/2-inch round holes drilled 12 inches in from the ends of the sleepers. Atop these

stringers they may have laid oak 2-by-3s. For a running surface they spiked to the longitudinal

members iron plates (probably cast, not wrought) 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick by 2-1/2 to 3 inches wide,

weighing 2-1/2 pounds to the yard, forming a single track laid to five-foot gauge.[25] At public

highway crossings Bryant used stone stringers instead of wood, to which were firmly bolted iron

plates 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick.

To keep the wooden stringers from decaying in contact with the earth the horse path was not

quite filled from rail to rail. But in the damp seaside climate and under the pounding of heavy

loads they wore and rotted quickly and by 1837 were replaced by continuous split, shaped

granite stringers laid atop the original transverse stone sleepers.[26] This method apparently

proving unsatisfactory for some reason, later the stringers were converted to rails by being

hammered smooth on their upper faces to provide suitable seating for iron plate rails and on the

inner faces to allow guidance and play for the wheel flanges – if flanges there were! The plates

were pinned by means of rivets or bolts at approximate one-foot spacing to the upper edge of the

inner face of these stringers.[27] This move reduced maintenance costs for the road to less than

$10 a year. Later in the century, edge rails were adopted, fastened directly atop the stone

stringers. This form of track construction remained in use until Old Colony and Newport

Railroad bought the Granite Railway in 1871.

The laborers who sweat it out all that summer laying this heavily-built railway were paid $12 a

month plus board, not at all bad remuneration for the time.

Starting from the quarry the railway crossed Billings Creek Swamp on a wooden trestle 225

28

feet long, with the rails and horse path in places elevated 20 feet, then rounded a sharp curve and

continued over relatively level terrain to a 1200-foot stone wharf that Bryant built on the brook.

Maximum grades were only 0.51 percent, a descent of about six inches in a horizontal distance

of 100 feet, well within safe limits for animal power. Work went ahead so speedily that the

railway officially began operation 7 October 1826, when three cars weighing 3000 to 3500

pounds each, laden with more than 16 tons of stone, plus 20 workmen who rode the cars for the

thrill, were hauled by one horse over the whole length of the road. The first cost of the railway

was $50,000 (Bryant in the beginning estimated $35,000, but it became typical of such projects

to run over). By 1839 the total capital expended came to $60,000.

Some observers, however, were not impressed. Congressman and future Secretary of State

Daniel Webster, returning from ex-president John Adams‟s funeral on 7 July 1826, aimed his thundercloud eyes at Bryant‟s opus and, perhaps in a more lugubrious mood than usual,

delivered himself of the opinion that “the future of such a mode of transportation is dubious.”

The two-ton cars, invented by Bryant, were ungainly-looking contraptions 14 feet long and 11

feet high with 78-inch-diameter wheels,[28] built to carry the largest dressed granite blocks (at

168 pounds per cubic foot, the average block weighed six tons) on a detachable platform slung

by chains beneath the axles, which were arched for four-fifths of their length to accommodate

the blocks. For loading, the platform was lowered to the ground between the rails while the

block was crowbarred onto it, then for movement was raised by chain hoists attached to

machinery atop the car.[29] The first of these cars cost $600.

To carry longer and heavier stones, Bryant anticipated the 20th and 21st century unit train by

fastening the cars together in multiples of two, three or four:

When stones of eight or ten tons were to be transported, I took two of these trucks and fastened

them together by a platform and king bolts. This made an eight-wheel car; and when larger stones

were to be carried, I increased the number of trucks, and this made a sixteen-wheel car. This was

used to transport the columns to the court house in Boston, each one weighing sixty-four tons in

the rough.[30]

Each of the horses used for motive power made four round trips daily, averaging 35 minutes

each way.

After “inventing” tracks, cars and machinery, Bryant came up with his conception of track switches or turnouts[31] but again neglected to obtain American patents on any of these useful

though not original contrivances. In 1829 he cooked up an eight-wheel freight car having two

29

swiveling trucks, but once more failed legally to secure his brainchild, and in 1834 Ross Winans

of Philadelphia kidnapped the idea and patented it. Bryant challenged Winans in the courts, the

case lasting five years and costing, it is said rather unbelievably, $50,000,[32] as much as it had

cost to build the railway. In the end, though Bryant's claim was upheld, by some quirk of the law

he never received one cent of royalty.[33]

In 1829 the men constructing the Bunker Hill monument went broke and the Granite Railway

was shut down for several years. When quarrying resumed it was at a different spot, 1500 feet

north of the former quarry and 84 feet above the railway grade. To reach this level, Bryant, rising

to the occasion, built a stone, double-track, balanced or (as he called it) "self-acting" inclined

plane 275 (some sources say 315, others 350) feet long on an angle from horizontal of 15

degrees,[34] having iron plates fastened to stone rails. The loaded cars coming from the quarry

were horse-drawn to a small "swing platform" balanced by weights, also Bryant's invention but

again unpatented,[35] at the top of the incline. Here the cars were unhitched and run onto this

turntable, which was revolved by hand to align the cars with the descending track. The heavy

loads then were gently let down the plane by gravity, pulling the returning empties up the

adjacent track by means of an endless chain[36] hitched to both cars and running through

sheaves at the top and bottom. At the base of the plane another team of horses was hooked onto

the loaded cars and hauled them to the wharf.

Of this structure, Bryant wrote with more than a touch of pride:

I never began work of any kind without thoroughly investigating the principles and proportions

that would produce the greatest effect; and in building the cars, tracks and machinery for the

inclined plane, and all the twisting apparatus [turntable?], none of the first productions were ever

altered by myself, nor has any new machinery been substituted or alteration made by those who

have had the management of the road from the time I left.[37]

Though Bryant's pride probably was justified, his steep inclined plane was an accident waiting

to happen, and happen it did. The Granite Railway had become a sort of local sight-seeing

attraction visited by presidential neighbor John Quincy Adams, Josiah Quincy, Daniel Webster

and other distinguished personages. Officially it carried no passengers, but this didn't keep

employes, company officers and sometimes guests from riding the cars. On 25 July 1832 a group

of Boston businessmen visited the site and took a ride up the incline. On the downward trip a

chain snapped and the resulting runaway killed a well-known gentleman named Gibson and

another joyrider and injured several others.[38] This sad accident, probably only the second fatal

30

mishap to occur on an American railway, is significant to the history of the Boston and

Providence Rail Road because it dissuaded that company from using inclined planes to pass

across the river valley at Canton and led to the construction of the mighty Canton viaduct, which

still stands.

In 1846 the Granite Railway was authorized to extend its track across Neponset River to a

junction in Dorchester with the newly chartered Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad. This

privilege was renewed two years later, but was not used until the Old Colony and Newport

takeover.[39]

At some unknown date, perhaps in 1846, the track was converted from five-foot width to

standard gauge (4 feet 8-1/2 inches between railheads).

The railway continued to operate with horses until 19 October 1871, when the line from West

Quincy to Neponset River was bought by the Old Colony and Newport Railway Company,[40]

which ripped up Bryant's track and replaced it with more modern rail. The Massachusetts

Railway Commissioner then noted that the Granite Railway had "combined the ownership and

management of the quarries with that of the railroad, and has been in successful operation since

its establishment."[41] Prior to 1926 Ford motor trucks with flanged wheels running on flattened

U- shaped rails hauled granite from one of the quarries to Neponset River.[42]

The Quincy stone pits gradually fell into disuse following the invention in England in 1845 of

portland cement. Remnants of the Granite Railway remain at the Quincy Quarries Historic Site

on Mullin Avenue in West Quincy, where some of the old sleepers served for years as

curbstones, but most of the structure, with fine disregard for historical significance, was

bulldozed into oblivion in the 1950s during construction of the Southeast Expressway. The

former route of the railway mostly follows a path just to the west of Massachusetts highway 3

and Interstate 93.[43]

Years ago, a short distance north of the New Haven Railroad's East Milton depot, a granite

monument marked the site of Bryant's railway and briefly told its history. This marker gradually

fell into a state of neglect, and I do not know its present condition.

* * *

The idea of cross-country waterways still flitted like a will-o‟-the-wisp in the public and

political mind, and on 24 February 1823 the Hampshire and Hampden Canal Company was

chartered in Massachusetts and granted the authority by the General Court to construct a

waterway from the Massachusetts-Connecticut state line northward through Westfield to

Northampton. This company was organized 15 September 1826. But forward-thinking men

31

already had railroads in mind, as is proven in an 1827 statement by James A. Hillhouse, who was

“the moving spirit in the canal enterprise,” that, "The proposed canal would exactly accord with

the project of a rail way from Boston to the Connecticut river which is in contemplation and

which it is to be hoped may be found practical."[44]

As mentioned in my first chapter, the laying of a trans-Berkshire highway "with rails" had

been suggested in an unofficial way to the Massachusetts General Court in 1825, though no

action was taken and the penurious politicians in January 1826 voted down money to be spent

on looking into the good idea. But by 1827 it was becoming clear, despite opposition both

rational and ridiculous, that railroads offered a much improved means of carrying people and

goods. The successful operation of the Granite Railway went a long way toward persuading the

legislature in July of that year to appoint a commission to plan and survey proposed routes for

several canals and railroads, including a 200-mile horse-powered "highway laid with rails" from

Boston westward across the long way of Massachusetts to the Hudson River at Albany, and

another, more within reach of the technology and funding of the times, and the subject of this

history, spanning the 40-odd miles between the Massachusetts and Rhode Island state

capitals,[45] to be known logically as the Boston and Providence Rail Road.

The Hudson River project, being the more dramatic of the two and backed by great popular

enthusiasm, especially since it promised to snatch some of the Erie Canal traffic that otherwise

would go down the Hudson River to New York City, seems to have had priority, and surveys got

under way in 1827, terminating early the following year. The map by engineer James F.

Baldwin, submitted to the General Court on 29 January 1828, and his 199-page report presented

on 16 December 1828 to the Massachusetts Board of Directors of Internal Improvements,[46]

made clear that though the railway was expected to bring about an increase in intercity passenger

travel over and above what the stagecoaches carried, the transport of freight was the line's

rationale for existence. Thus the irony that although passengers, at least at first, would prove to

be the main business of the New England railroads, the first Yankee public carrier railway was

conceived as a freight hauler mainly. Traffic estimates for the Albany trackway were 38,500 tons

of through freight and 95,000 tons of way freight per annum. Through passengers were predicted

to number 40,000 at a fare of $3.05.[47].

Solomon Willard got into the act in 1828 when he was employed by the Board of Directors of

Internal Improvements to ascertain the cost, quality and quantity of granite for the rails and

bridges of the railroad. The intent of the State commissioners in charge of both the Albany and

32

the Providence surveys was to lay parallel stone walls sunk below frost line, their upper surfaces

flush with the ground. These would be topped by longitudinal granite slabs or stringers one

square foot in cross section, their upper surfaces smoothed for the bolted-down iron bar rails,

with clearance cut for the flanges of the wheels of the horse-drawn wagons – in other words, a

sort of improved and overbuilt Granite Railway connecting Boston with the Hudson River and

with Providence.

Willard estimated that, provided the granite quarries were as near as possible to the scene of

construction, the cost of opening the quarries and building roadways would be 1 cent per linear

foot of rail; quarrying the rail stone, 5 cents per foot; dressing and preparing the rails for work, 4

cents per foot; and hauling to the line of the road, 4 cents per foot; total cost, 14 cents per foot of

rail. Thus the more than two million feet of granite rails over the 200-mile distance from Boston

to the Hudson River would cost $295,680, not including the cost of the land, the underpinnings

of the track, the cuts and fills, the bridges, the sidings and the requisite buildings and other

facilities.

With the Board then considering the practicability of the two railways from Boston to the

Hudson and Boston to Providence, Solomon Willard on 16 January 1829 submitted to the

General Court a dual report “on the Practicability and Expediency of a Rail-road from Boston to

the Hudson River, and from Boston to Providence.” “Having witnessed [he said] the success of the Granite railway, the Directors felt that the State should not delay in perfecting this mode of transportation.” Willard recommended for the use of these railways the kind of infrastructure (the wrong kind, as it was to turn out) employed by the

Granite Railway.[48]

The commissioners advised that the states should build the two railroads, but this notion was

not received kindly by either the legislature or the tax-paying voters.[49]

The main interest of the directors obviously lay in the Boston-Hudson River railway, which

they hoped could bring from the forests of western Massachusetts to Boston the bulk of the

120,000 cords of wood consumed annually as fuel in that city as well as in Cambridge and

Charlestown; 9000 cords of this now arrived by water.[50]

At this point, in 1828 and 1829, began the great horse versus steam debate, which was as

seriously contested in its time as the steam-diesel controversy of 120 years later. Studies for the

proposed line from Boston to the west had convinced experts that two horses would be sufficient

to take an eight-ton loaded wagon up the four- or five-mile Washington Summit 1.5 percent

ruling grade, while a single horse could draw the same load over any other part of the road. A

33

better-informed lobbyist named William Jackson, addressing the Massachusetts Charitable

Mechanic Association in an effort to promote the projected line, though he admitted the obvious

that a horse could pull heavier loads on a railway than on an unpaved turnpike, was aware of the

progress of steam locomotion in England and expressed his foresighted opinion that the horse

soon could, should and would be supplanted by steam power.[51]

But there were those on the other side of the fence who claimed that the iron horse was cranky

and uncertain and, with its pressurized boiler sizzling away, even rather scary, and that with the

high price of coal shipped from far away places with strange-sounding names like Pennsylvania,

Nova Scotia or England (at that stage no one seems to have thought of burning wood in

engines), the old reliable biological horse was far preferable. These neigh-sayers correctly

pointed out that at that time in England where the steam locomotive had been invented – and in

fact, in the world – only one road, the Stockton and Darlington, had ventured to use steam

power, and the cost of keeping it running was so great that after their opening day they used

steam only on coal trains and reverted to horses for pulling passenger runs.[52] A determined

long-time opponent of the use of steam power was Daniel Webster, who predicted that frost on

the rails in winter would prove “an insuperable obstacle” to locomotive traction by causing the drive wheels to slip and spin while the train stood in one place.

* * *

As for the Boston and Providence Rail Road, from the beginning there seems to have been no

question that horses would serve as the motive power. Specific plans for this much shorter and

easier route got going by 1827 when state ownership was anticipated. The Board of Directors of

Internal Improvements of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, after "the examination of

sundry routes," in May 1828 applied to the Rhode Island General Assembly for permission to

make surveys in that state for the purpose of laying out a railroad connecting the two capitals,

and for authority to construct the railroad. The Rhode Islanders gave permission to make the

survey, and in June the general assembly passed an act authorizing the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts or any corporation in that state to lay out and construct a railroad from Boston to

Providence.[53]

The equine mentality prevailed, and the applicants needlessly reiterated the familiar truism

that horse-drawn vehicles rolling over iron rails could be started more easily and kept rolling at

higher speeds than on the rough and ready turnpikes of the time. In fact, James Hayward, the

34

engineer who surveyed the Providence line, opined in his report of December 1828 "that horse

power will be more expedient for application to the uses of this road."[54]

The plans submitted in 1829 to the Massachusetts General Court describing the surveys and

mode of construction of the Boston and Providence were not dissimilar to those for the Hudson

River line, but on less than one-fourth the longitudinal scale. The intent was to use iron bars or

straps as a treadway for the wheels of the horse-drawn wagons and carriages. These would be

bolted down rigidly to two continuous parallel lines of granite stringers supported on heavy

stone sills embedded in the ground. The steepest grades would be surmounted by inclined planes

similar to the one on the Quincy railway and stationary steam power. A path would be left down

the middle of the track for the horses. Someone now calculated that one horse working seven

hours a day in freight service could pull a load of eight tons including the weight of the wagon at

three miles per hour; or working three hours a day could draw a coach carrying 25 passengers at

the spanking rate of nine miles an hour. This would have meant, probably, a relay station at a

midway point on the line for changing, resting and feeding the horsepower, most likely in

Foxborough, or Wrentham if an alternate westerly route was chosen. It was estimated that the

cost of this road would be $8000 per mile plus land purchases and that about 27,000 tons of

freight and 24,000 passengers would be carried per year. Net annual income of the road was

forecast at $60,000.[55]

The Board did note, however, that on railways recently built and then building in England and

France, “it is proposed to make use almost exclusively of locomotive engines or carriages

moved by steam placed within them.”[56]

The Boston to Providence survey begun in 1827 was wrapped up by January 1828[57]

simultaneously with the report on the Boston-Hudson River line, because in that month civil

engineer James Hayward drew up the proposed routes on a long sheet of buff-colored paper on

which he hand-tinted lakes and ponds an artistic light blue. He entitled his map Plan of a Survey

for the proposed Boston and Providence Rail-Way [sic].[58]

Wanting to give the directors a choice, Hayward had staked out two main lines (which for

convenience I call "eastern" and "western," though he did not use those terms) and four shorter

alternate routes that he depicted on his map with dashed lines. The eastern main line follows a

course familiar in part to current Boston-South Attleborough rail commuters, passing through

Canton, Sharon, Foxborough, Mansfield and Attleborough. The western route runs by way of

Norwood, Walpole, Wrentham and what is now North Attleborough before crossing into Rhode

Island between Pawtucket and Central Falls. Neither line enters Boston proper – they terminate

35

demurely on the city's fringes – and only the western route ventures into the city of Providence.

The eastern line's terminus was to be in South Boston at the corner of West Broadway and

Dorchester Avenue (in 1828, South Boston Turnpike). From here, Hayward's survey follows the

east side of the pike between Upham's Corner and Savin Hill until at 3-1/2 miles, to dodge some

minor hills, it zigzags, crossing the pike three times in a half mile, and just beyond mile 5

reaches Neponset River a half mile west of "Milton Bridge" by which the turnpike passed over

the river into Milton Lower Mills. The railway line then angles across Brush Hill Turnpike (now

Blue Hill Avenue, Route 138), along the eastern border of Fowl Meadow[59] and reaches

Canton east of and across the road from the Stone Factory, 14-1/4 miles from its start.

Unlike the later steam railroad, Hayward's route does not hesitate to plunge boldly into the

vale of Canton River (now the East Branch of Neponset River), skirting the west end of the

factory pond and climbing the southern slope. Inclines like those formerly in use on Beacon Hill

were planned on which cars would be lowered by gravity down one side and pulled up the other

by animal or mechanical power.

Between Canton and Foxborough, Hayward laid out two diversions, one east and the other

west of the main line, affording a choice of three courses through hilly Sharon. The western

detour diverges at mile 8-1/2, crosses Canton River a half mile downstream from the Stone

Factory, flirts with the east slopes of Chestnut, Bald and Bluff Hills, hooks past the east shore of

Billings Pond and rejoins the main line near Wolomolopoag Street at mile 20. The east-side

diversion splits off near mile 13-1/2 in the south part of Canton, passes east of Sharon village,

along the west shore of Massapoag Pond (now Lake Massapoag) and rejoins the main line at

mile 21. Neither detour saved much distance if any, but perhaps the grades were easier.[60]

From near Bearfoot Hill in Sharon through Mansfield the survey is difficult to trace because it

traverses a featureless plain (although it appears to anticipate the present Boston to Providence

rail line) and because Hayward depicts some roads not identifiable on modern maps. (Mansfield

is not even mentioned.) Elm Street in West Mansfield is the next recognizable road; the survey

crosses it a quarter mile south of "Col. Lane's" house; then Wading River south of Sweet's Pond

and the ancient New Bedford-Taunton-Worcester highway now known as Gilbert Street a half

mile south of the future Otis Street.

Just past Gilbert Street, at mile 28, the line pierces a dense two-mile woods, emerging at

Lindsey Street (called formerly the Foxborough Road) and plunging through the southeast end

of Attleborough's Bungay Swamp of forbidding tropical density.

"Attleborough Precinct" at mile 31-1/2 is the first place of consequence since leaving Stone's

36

Factory; this now is the center of Attleboro but was known then as East Village. From here to its

southern terminus Hayward's survey coincides with the future course of the steam railroad: Ten

Mile River and Dodge's Factory and pond at mile 33-1/2, Perrin's Road, Ten Mile River again;

thence across Seekonk Plain, cutting off Seekonk Cove (Omega Pond), to end at the east foot of

India Bridge on Seekonk River, 42-1/4 miles from South Boston. The Seekonk River was then

the state line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island; thus Hayward's eastern route not only

did not enter Providence, it did not enter Rhode Island.[61]

The western line is a separate survey that at no point touches the eastern route; it is like a

totally separate railway. Its Boston terminal was to be on the south side of Dudley Street a

quarter mile west of Boston Street, near the future New York and New England's Dudley Street

depot and not far from the New Haven Railroad's Upham's Corner station. This survey crosses

Columbia Road in the Upham's Corner area, curving west of Dr. Codman's meeting house and

then Brush Hill Turnpike and along the north bank of Neponset River to a proposed bridge at

mile 5. At this point the western and eastern lines run parallel and only a mile apart.

Passing along the west foot of Brush Hill in Readville and again over the Neponset, the

western course crosses Milton Street at mile 7 and edges the west shore of Sprague's Pond's

menacing quicksands. A one-mile swamp flanking Purgatory Brook in Norwood plus a double

crossing of a muleshoe bend in Neponset River must have given Hayward pause, because just

beyond the bend, at mile 12-1/4, he apparently backtracked and laid out an easier diversion west

of his main route.

This backward branch, nearly 13 miles long, escapes the Neponset marshes, crosses Purgatory

bog where less than a half mile wide, curves around Wigwam Pond, over Mother Brook and then

Charles River, follows Spring Street near West Roxbury and after nine miles picks up the

Dedham Turnpike, now Washington Street, sticking to its right shoulder for a mile and a quarter,

after which Haywood takes a straight two-mile shot to a proposed alternate terminus on the left

bank of Stony Brook (now channeled below ground in that area) on Dudley Street near the later

New Haven Railroad Roxbury station.

The main western route, continuing from mile 12-1/4, follows the Neponset and its chain of

factory ponds through East Walpole and across Washington Street, passing a half mile northwest

of Walpole Center between mile 16 and 17. Slicing through a horseshoe-shaped cedar swamp, it

reaches Wrentham less than a quarter mile southeast of the town‟s center, at mile 23-1/2. Not far

south of this point the two main survey lines are at their greatest distance apart, about 5-3/4

miles. Then comes a leftward bend across Ten Mile River into the present North Attleborough,

37

although in 1828 that town had not yet been separated from Attleborough.

Just beyond mile 23 the survey leads past Lane's Factory on Abbott's Run in the southwest

corner of North Attleborough, crosses Pawtucket River at Central Falls, runs beside the

Blackstone Canal and terminates on its east bank three-quarter mile short of the Canal Basin

(which no longer exists) in Providence at mile 39-3/4, making it 2-1/2 miles shorter than the

eastern route. The two proposed southern terminals are two and a quarter miles apart.

Besides the 13-mile diversion, the western line had yet another alternate and shorter route

with its own planned terminal in the outskirts of Boston, also on Dudley Street a mile and a

quarter southeast of the Stony Brook depot and a little over a quarter mile northwest of the main

station; the latter two contemplated depots straddled a private house marked on Hayward's map

as that of "Madam Swan," whose home for whatever reason seems to have been a landmark

known to all. From Dudley Street, this lesser diversion joins the main western line just short of

mile 3.

Altogether the two main and four alternate routes surveyed by Hayward total just over 108

miles. His map, however, depicts a fifth dashed line running diagonally across country between

the eastern and western routes. This line, 6-1/4 miles in length, follows County Street from

"Attleborough Precinct" for about four miles south before angling slightly to the right to reach

the western line a mile north of Pawtucket. Whether Hayward intended this as another alternate

rail route or cut-off connecting the two main lines, or simply ran a survey to check the distance

between the lines, which, as a former land surveyman, I find reasonably possible, is not clear to

me.

These studies being completed, the railway corporation began buying up real estate. On 15

August 1828 seven Mansfield farmers for a nominal dollar each (the real amount was kept

confidential) deeded a right-of-way through their lands to the Boston and Providence Rail Road

(so the deeds read; not Rail-Way). Presumably the same purchases occurred in other towns along

the two routes. Note that these farmers did not sell land to the railroad. That would come later,

after steam operations began and were seen to be successful. For unknown reasons, this

agreement was not recorded at the Bristol County registry of deeds at Taunton until 18

September 1832.[62]

But when the engineers came out with their figures for the cost of building this granite and

iron path across country, the backers of the scheme got cold feet, their chilblains perhaps chilled

even further by the financial depression of 1829, and the expensive project was shelved,[63] to

38

be reborn two years later under the same corporate name but in much improved form. Soon after

the idea was given up, the authority granted by the Rhode Island legislature was repealed.[64]

* * *

Meanwhile, forward-looking Americans were seriously investigating the capabilities of steam

power. Successful English experiments with steam traction in 1829 and 1830 had thrown a

transatlantic damper on the idea of horse-powered railroads on this side of the pond. In 1828 the

Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, which received its charter in 1827 and began

construction on the auspicious date of 4 July 1828, seemed determined to do things right, and

dispatched four of its senior engineers to England to spend several months studying the pioneer

steam railways there and chatting with famed locomotive builders.[65]

In the United States in the first half of the 19th century if you wanted engineers and

technicians you looked to graduates of West Point, the only engineering school in the country.

During the more than three decades of peace between the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, the

United States Military Academy produced more railroad civil engineers and (later) railroad

presidents than it did generals. To fill the scarcity of civil technicians, the Army Corps of

Topographical Engineers, beginning with the General Survey Act of 1824, were permitted to

exercise their considerable talents in the development of internal improvements – of

infrastructure, we would say. The Baltimore and Ohio became the first railroad enterprise for

which men of the Corps were detached and allowed to provide their services while still members

of the military.[66]

Two of these men who sailed on 22 October 1828 for England, Captain William Gibbs

McNeill and Second Lieutenant George Washington Whistler,[67] were former fellow West

Pointers (but not classmates; McNeill was graduated two years ahead of Whistler) who while

cadets had become fast friends. They remained colleagues for many years. Moreover, they were

in-laws: Whistler had married as his second wife McNeill's sister Anna Matilda, who as a widow

in 1872 would sit for her artist son, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, when he painted the famous

portrait commonly known as "Whistler's Mother."[68]

While in England the four Yankees conferred with pioneer locomotive builders George and

Robert L. Stephenson (father and son) and the elderly civil engineer Thomas Telford, and visited

the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It is interesting, in view of England's earlier reluctance to

permit export of technological ideas (for example, textile mill machinery[69]), that no obstacles

appear to have been erected to prevent these snooping Yanks, who presumably carried adequate

credentials, from seeing what they wished to see and asking about whatever they wished to

39

learn.[70]

Whistler, a handsome man with a lean, determined-looking, sideburned face, and hair brushed

into bunches of thick curls over his ears, and his redoubtable sidekick McNeill were to make

indelible marks on the world's topography, Whistler on two continents.[71] The young West

Pointers returned to America overflowing with ideas (swiveling front wheel trucks to guide

locomotives around sharp curves was one of the best and longest lasting) and wrote reports that

were to have a major influence on the engineering of steam railroads in the United States[72]

including the Boston and Providence, shortly to be reincarnated sans equines.

One result of this fact-gathering trip was that in 1829 the same directors of the Boston and

Providence who had considered and then recoiled from the idea of a horse railway became so

enamored with the news of Stephenson's Rocket, England's and the world's first "modern"

locomotive, that they reconvened to discuss the exciting possibility of a steam railroad.[73]

On 13 February 1830 the Troy (Massachusetts) Monitor reported a new slant: a petition for

incorporation of a railroad from Boston to Providence with a branch to Taunton and thence to

Troy (to be renamed Fall River in 1834) had been filed with the Massachusetts Great and

General Court.[74] The House of Representatives‟ 1830 document number 5 reports "An act to establish the Boston, Providence and Taunton Rail Road Corporation." This interesting bill,

which anticipates both the Boston and Providence and the Taunton Branch Rail Road

corporations, was in the Massachusetts Senate on 3 March. But its promoters apparently got the

shakes and decided to leave Taunton out of their plans for the moment and ask for something

simpler and easier to accomplish.[75] Yet a year later, in 1831, the indefatigable Solomon

Willard “examined the route for a railroad from Boston to Taunton and Somerset.”[76]

The state, though they had backed off from their former willingness to finance construction

for any private railroad company, on 5 June 1830 did grant a charter for a railroad from Boston

to Lowell,[77] the first steam railroad charter granted in Massachusetts. Others would follow.

NOTES

1. On the Surrey Iron Ry in England, in an 1803 test to see how much an animal could draw, a single horse

successfully pulled a 55-ton train of "waggons" with 50 passengers riding atop the loads (Day 1970: 6). The first

mixed train?

2. Documents from Schladming near Salzburg, Austria, dated 1408, portray a mining railway.

3. In England, horse-powered railways (or, more accurately, waggonways, plateways and tramways) became

40

the preferred form of coal transport from mine to consignee, not so much from their ability to carry greater amounts

of coal longer distances at cheaper rates, but because they were a more "gentle transport" than carts drawn over the

roughneck highways and did not break up the lumps of coal into dust or sizes too small for easy combustion

(“slack,” this stuff was called). In 1797 John Curr, a British mining engineer, devised a form of cast iron railroad

[sic] to accommodate "flat-tyred" vehicles; his book published in that year, describing his iron way in detail, is the

earliest known work on railway track (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2001).

I might mention that an Englishman, Samuel Smiles, was said to have originated the myth that "tram" was a

shortened form of the last name of Benjamin Outram, who in 1800 in Derbyshire, England, first used stone sleepers

or ties under the ends of wooden rails. Webster's dictionary disagrees with Smiles‟s version, as does A. M. Levitt, who points out (pers. comm. 2004) that the word "tram" was used in connection with highways as early as 1555.

4. On the matter of claiming a “first,” Sir Neil Cossons, former head of the Science Museum in London, has said, “In making this statement I may stand guilty of the disturbing crime of which I complain, primary assertion.” (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2005).

5. But this is not the only definition of a railroad. John H. Armstrong (1990, The railroad, what it is, what it

does: Simmons-Boardman Books Inc., Omaha, Neb.) leads off by saying, "A railroad consists of two steel rails

which are held a fixed distance apart upon a roadbed. Vehicles, guided and supported by flanged steel wheels, and

connected into trains, are propelled as a means of transportation." This of course is the modern definition; it ignores

the former use of iron or even wooden rails and paper(!) wheels. The distinguished English railway historians

Michael Robbins and Charles E. Lee state that a railroad must have (a) a specialized track, (b) accommodation for

public traffic, (c) conveyance of passengers, (d) mechanical traction and (e) some measure of public control (Levitt

ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8; A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002). This faulty definition excludes not only the Granite

Ry but also the great U. S. all-freight railroads of our times. "Dr. M. J. T. Lewis, a historian of stature at least equal

to either Lee or Robbins, defines 'railway' [as] 'a prepared track which so guides vehicles running upon it that they

cannot leave the track.' 'Flanged wheels' (as in the Britannica) are not a sine qua non. The flanges can be – and, in

the early decades, often were – on the track" (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002).

6. Even earlier may have been an inclined cable-operated railway in Lewiston, N. Y. (then a British colony),

used in 1764 to haul supplies for a military camp (Loxton and Hamlyn 1963-70: 32) and built under the direction of

Capt. John Montressor. No doubt historical grinds and scroungers can dig up still earlier "railroads."

7. Or, this Beacon Hill inclined plane or tramroad may have been built in 1805 or 1807 by either Copley or Silas

Whitney, take your choice. Clearly a search for primary material, either written or excavated, is needed here!

8. Bulfinch (1763-1844; graduated Harvard 1781) is best known for his work on completing the Capitol

building in Washington, but he also designed and built many other structures, including the Mass. state house, the

cornerstone of which was laid atop Beacon Hill in 1795. It was completed in 1798, but the original appearance has

been compromised by the addition of two oversized wings. Bulfinch also built his own house on Beacon Hill.

References to these early inclined railways are vague and contradictory. The 1795 and 1796 tramways may

possibly be one and the same. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2006) notes that he “has never found any primary-source

references to the Beacon Hill inclines,” and suggests that a “„null hypothesis‟ archaeological dig” be undertaken on the site(s).

Information on Boston‟s two early railways is drawn from Ringwalt, chapter on “Colliery and quarry railroads,” 1888; Boston Gazette 6 Jan. 1889; Sanderson 1944: 15; Harlow 1946: 18; Whitehill 1959: 61; Bliek 1979: 3; Lee

41

1979: 3; and Levitt 2004

9. A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005.

10. For example, a Pennsylvania road which claims (so reads a sign erected in Woodlyn) to be the "First

American Railway" was a wooden-railed horse-drawn experimental line built by Thomas Leiper in 1809 from Crum

Creek to Ridley to carry coal from a mine to a canal. This tramway was worked until 1830, by which time

America's first real railroads, the common carrier Baltimore & Ohio (although at first this too was horse-powered)

and the South Carolina Canal & R. R. (Charleston & Hamburg) Co. had commenced operations.

11. Crane Apr. 1925: 29-30, evidence of William E. Kern of New Bedford, Mass., former superintendent of

Cape Cod Glass Co., interviewed by Ms Crane. On 20 July 1906 Kern read his paper, "Reminiscences of the Boston

& Sandwich Glass Co.," before the American Society of Flint & Lime Glass Manufacturers. Boston & Sandwich

Glass Co. was founded in 1825 by Deming Jarves, Henry Rice, Andrew T. Hall and Edmund Monroe. A tidal creek

a mile long, navigable by small boats and flat-bottomed scows, reached from the bay to the factory and this also was

used to carry glass products to the sloops and to bring coal and sand from the sloops to the factory. Of the little-

known "bogey," Ms Crane notes cautiously, "This is said to have been one of the earliest railroads of its kind in

America."

12. My account of the Granite Ry is drawn from Anonymous 1827; Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 295, 366-7; Stuart

1871; Appletons Encyc. 1886; Wood 1919; C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 14-15; Sanderson 1944: 15; Harlow 1946:

25-35; Lee 1975: 28-30, and 1979: 3; Kaye (who quotes Cameron 1953) 1976; Bliek 1979: 3; C. Brown 1979: 7;

Humphrey and Clark 1985: 5, and 1986: 1, 7, 11; Wilkie and Tager, eds., 1991: 130; Del Vecchio 1999: 16, 19-20,

55, 56; Langford 1999; Skehan 2001; Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8-9; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 2, 37;

Kirkland, date unknown; and Snow, date unknown. These accounts do not entirely agree in their details.

13. A note by Gamst (ed. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 818-9) provides an authoritative run-down of early American

railways in the era before locomotives. W. Brown (1871) and Granite Ry Co. (1926) are among many who

incorrectly claim the Granite Ry to be America's first. A photo of the dated commemorative monument, which stood

beside the New Haven R. R.'s West Quincy branch and to which is attached a stone slab holding an iron switch frog

(maybe not original?) from the Granite Ry, was taken in 1942 by New Haven R. R. assistant bridge and building

sup't Benjamin Furniss of Boston and appeared in a NHRHTA newsletter of unknown date, probably in the 1980s.

14. The first railroad charter in America was granted 6 Feb. 1815 to John Stevens for a line from Trenton to New

Brunswick, N. J., between the Delaware and Raritan Rivers (Gamst ed. Gerstner 1842/43/1987: 819).

15. Copeland 1930a; Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 2.

16. The "Granite Branch" of the New Haven (formerly Old Colony & Newport) R. R. joined the Boston to

Middleborough railroad at a switch on the west side of Hancock St. (now Rte 3A) 500 feet south of the Atlantic

station (Walker 1891: 98). From Boston South Station to Atlantic by rail is 5.49 miles.

17. Some sources say that master builder Gridley Bryant purchased the quarry on 9 June 1825 from Frederick

Hardwick for a measly $250, using funds provided by Dr. John C. Warren (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2003).

18. Quincy historian H. Hobart Holly has determined that 54 quarries operated in the town – as many as 36 at

one time. By 1923, 24 quarries were located along or near the route of the former Granite Ry (Skehan 2001: 185).

19. Philanthropist Thomas Handasyd Perkins was born in Boston 15 Dec. 1764. Besides his involvement with

the Granite Ry, in 1833 he and others petitioned the Mass. Joint Committee of Railways and Canals for authority to

build a railway from Boston to Salem (Harlow 1946: 148); this later became the Eastern R.-R. Corp. chartered 14

42

Apr. 1836, opened 27 Aug. 1838. He was involved later in building the Boston & Worcester R. R., and in 1836

under his direction a railroad route was surveyed from Old Ferry Wharf in Chelsea to Beverly, Mass. (NHRAA

1940-52/2002: 11). Called "the merchant prince of Boston," Perkins derived his great wealth in part from a lucrative

China trade which involved dealing in opium. Along with financial assistance, in 1832 he gave his house on Pearl

St., South Boston, for the Perkins Institution and Mass. School for the Blind, a unique institution for its time. One

biographer writes that in a fit of depression Perkins drowned himself in the Ohio River, but other records indicate he

died less dramatically in Brookline, Mass., 11 Jan. 1854.

20. Gridley J. F. Bryant was born in Scituate, Mass., in 1789. His failure to patent his inventions, which he

abandoned to the public, resulted in his having to testify numerous times in patent infringement cases involving

various railroads which put his inventions such as the four-wheel truck into general use and promised him much but

paid nothing. These law suits so ground him down financially and in health that they hastened his death by

paralysis, in poverty at Scituate 13 June 1867. Among Bryant's later accomplishments was the construction of the

Fitchburg Railroad's twin-towered Norman castle of a station at Salem, Mass., in 1847. See Harlow 1946 following

p. 274 for a portrait of Bryant.

21. "Stuart's lives and works," etc., date unknown, in C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 14. Later, Bryant wrote, "These

gentlemen thought the project visionary and chimerical, but being anxious to aid the Bunker Hill monument,

consented that I might see what could be done" (Harlow 1946: 13). One is reminded of Thoreau‟s comment that business enterprise must be made of India rubber in order to bounce over all the obstacles government strews in its

path.

22. This company was referred to in an 1827 report as "Quincy Rail Road;" in a U. S. Navy report of 1827 as

"Quincy Granite Railway Company;" and in an 1836 Report of the New York [State] Canal Commissioners as "the

Granite railroad of Quincy, Mass." (NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11).

23. I cannot remember what 20th century sage said, "If railroads didn't exist it would be necessary to invent

them." Levitt (ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8) points out that "the technology of engineering utilized by the Granite

Railway had developed in a period of less than 35 years. Indeed, there must have been significant transfer of

technology from Britain to Quincy, as well as substantial technological innovation there."

24. Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8. We wish we could know exactly what he read!

25. Gabriel 2000. The claim has been made (Willkie and Tager, eds. 1991: 130) that this was the first use (in the

U. S., presumably) of iron plates covering wooden rails. Questions exist as to the original track gauge (Levitt 2002:

3). Skehan (2001: 126, 133) incorrectly describes the Granite Ry as "narrow-gauge." A. M. Levitt (pers. comm.

2006) suggests that the 5-foot gauge may have derived from”from the dimensions of the purpose-cut blocks of

granite that were to be carried, suspended, between the flange-less wheels of the waggons.”

The running surface of the track structure thus described is more than 24 inches above the ground. Was the horse-

path down the center of the track somehow built up to the same level, as would seem necessary to make things easy

for the horses?

26. “This form of infrastructure, described by Charles E. Lee as „an unusual form of rail,‟ had been used on the Hay Tor Granite Tramway [England] of 1820, but rarely – if at all – elsewhere. Bryant may have read of this, or

opted to use materials at hand.” (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005.) There is some question whether the iron plates were conventional flat strap rails or plate rails with a vertical segment for guidance of flange-less wheels.

27. "Some misconception surrounds the type of rail originally used by the Granite Railway. The first track was

43

apparently designed to accommodate both rail vehicles and road vehicles with flange-less wheels. The first rails

would have been either cast- or wrought iron, with an L profile, on granite blocks with one longitudinal edge mitred

away. When flanged wheels were later adopted (on part of the line), wooden rails topped with iron plates, and

granite rails were used. The types of early rails that were used, where, and for what periods, remains a mystery"

(Levitt 2002: 2-3). Park (Apr. 2000: 400) says the Granite Ry "is said to be the first railroad in the Nation to use

iron-faced rails." The Quincy wheel guidance may have been obtained by cutting away the inner corner of the

granite stringers or rails. At Hay Tor the cutaway corner of the granite stringers faced outward, otherwise the track

structures appear to have been similar. The addition of strap rail at Quincy was a technological forward step.

28. A wood engraving dating from 1830 appears to show flange-less wheels as does a duplicate of the railway's

first car, reconstructed c1925 from Gridley's original plans (Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 9). Such "blind"

wheels ordinarily required L-section flanged rails to keep them on the track. As previously stated it is not clear

exactly what arrangement was used on the Granite Ry. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2006) speculates that Bryant may

have “opted for flange-less wheels so that waggons could run to areas – such as the working face [of the quarry] –

not reached by the rails.” 29. Another example of loads being suspended beneath axles was seen in the American West, where heavy logs

were moved overland after being slung by means of chains below the axles of large pairs of wheels.

30. Fisher-Dubiel 1919-74: 15.

31. Bryant wrote, "All the cars, trucks and machinery are my original inventions." The assumption can be made,

however, that his inventions related only to American railway practice. The track switch or turnout was certainly in

use on English railways by 1825 and on mining railways earlier.

32. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2003) questions this figure, noting that it equates to about one million dollars in

today's money.

33. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11; Harlow 1946: 33. A letter written by Boston & Providence Rail Road president

W. W. Woolsey, a copy of which is in the B&P letter-book 1834-36, comments on the Winans patent litigation.

34. The idea of inclined railway planes was not new. Inclines, originally used in conjunction with canals, pre-

date both level-running railroads and tram roads (Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8). "Extensive inclined planes"

were in service at Brusselton and Etherley near West Auckland on the Stockton & Darlington Ry in England in

1825. Stationary steam engines lowered cars down and hauled them up inclines on either side of the ravine of the

River Gaunless and on the opposite slope of the Brusselton ridge (J. W. Harding, 1934-45: 4, 5; Loxton and Hamlyn

1963-70: 12-13, q. v. for illustration). On the steeper parts of several early English railways, e. g., between Euston

and Camden Town on the London & Midland, endless rope haulage of the kind used for years in British mines was

employed. The Camden inclined plane until 1844 negotiated a grade of 1 in 70 (1.43%) in crossing Regent's Canal

near Chalk Farm. Trains were hitched to an endless rope 12,240 feet long and 2-1/4 inches thick, operated by two

60-hp steam engines at the top of the plane. Between Edge Hill and Liverpool rope haulage was used at first; and

the London & Blackwall, authorized in 1836, was worked by cables and stationary engines for its entire length of 3-

1/2 miles, Robert Stephenson and George Bidder being the civil engineers. The rationale for these planes was the

belief that locomotives with their smooth wheels running on smooth rails possessed insufficient adhesion or tractive

power to manage even moderate grades. The success of Stephenson's engine Rocket at the 1829 trials won the day

for locomotive traction and convinced the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester to eschew fixed engines and

ropes, which they had planned (Loxton and Hamlyn 1963-70: 95, 128).

44

Despite the lesson learned in the Mother Country, some American railroad builders took their sweet time about

disabusing themselves of a fondness for inclined planes. The Mohawk & Hudson R. R. had two inclines, one

outside Schenectady (done away with about 1839) and the other near Albany; these had grades of 1 in 18 (5.6%),

somewhat beyond the capacity of an ordinary steam locomotive. The Ithaca & Owego R. R. in New York state used

two planes to mount the hills outside of Ithaca, the first being 1733 feet long with the rather scary grade of 1 in 4.28

or 23.4%, the second 2226 feet at 1 in 21 or 4.8%; the two together enabled the railroad to climb 511 feet vertically.

The Philadelphia & Columbia had two inclines 2805 and 1800 feet long, though the latter was abandoned by 1839.

Mauch Chunk R. R. in Pennsylvania used two inclined planes; Danville & Pottsville R. R. in the same state had

four. The Baltimore & Ohio R. R. at first used planes but eliminated them; and some other U. S. railroads employed

planes. The prize must be awarded to the Allegheny Portage R. R., ridden and described by Charles Dickens, which

between 1834 and 1858 used 10 inclined planes in a distance of 28 miles (a rise of 1399 feet on the east slope and

1176 on the west) to get over the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, although this awkward situation could have

been avoided. (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 129, 238-9, 561-2, 578-80, 611-2, 622-3, 653). The use of inclined planes

on the Boston & Worcester Rail Road was seriously debated but the decision was made against them (Harlow 1946:

94).

The planes, as awkward and inefficient as they were, in England seem to have been regarded as a tourist

attraction, because the announcement preceding the 1825 opening of the Stockton & Darlington Ry contains the

invitation: "Any Individuals desirous of seeing the Train of Waggons descending the inclined Plane from

ETHERLY, and in progress to BRUSSELTON, may have an Opportunity of so doing, by being on the railway at ST

HELEN'S AUCKLAND not later than Half-past Seven o'clock."

See Gamst (ed. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 824-5) for a historical summary of inclined planes.

A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2005) supposes that the trackwork on the inclined plane was not identical with that

used on the level. A recent photograph in Skehan (2001: 187) of the track structure shows iron strap rails bolted atop

granite blocks without the use of timber stringers, and a double inner row of granite blocks mounting V-shaped iron

fixtures between them for a "stabilizing cable." This method of construction most likely was used only on the

inclined sections. There also was probably a difference in the construction of the ascending track of the balanced

incline and the descending track. Nor, one suspects, were the cars used on the incline the same as those used on the

level.

35. The turntable, like the track switch or turnout, was not original with Bryant. John Smeaton, in building

England‟s Eddystone lighthouse, used a turntable in 1756 and illustrated it in his book first published in 1791, and a wagon-way turntable by Gabriel Jars is shown in his “Voyages metallurgiques” (1765). Charles E. Lee includes an

illustration of a turnout or switch from "The coal viewer," published by John Curr in 1797. (A. M. Levitt pers.

comms. 2002, 2005; Levitt prefers to say that Bryant was possibly the inventor of "a turntable, and a switch.")

36. The disadvantage of chains in this use was their enormous dead weight. Ordinary rope, despite its popularity

in England, was unsatisfactory because of the wear caused by friction plus the fact that it stretched with use, and

wire cable was not used until the 1840s (Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 9).

37. Fisher-Dubiel 1919-74: 15.

38. Harlow (1946: 106) states that only Gibson was killed. Shaw (2001: 37) gives the number killed as two.

39. Wood 1919. The successful use of the granite for building Bunker Hill monument not only helped spread the

fame of Quincy stone but turned the town of Quincy from a retired village into a thriving industrial center. The

45

Granite Railway Company also carried the stone for building Minot‟s Ledge lighthouse (1855-60).

40. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 37 gives the date as 19 Dec. 1870.

41. Appleton 1871: 1.

42. Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 9; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 37.

43. Skehan 2001: 187-8.

44. Remarks of the Hon. James Hillhouse, before the joint committee, on the petition of Samuel Hinkley and

others, for the extension of the Hampshire and Hampden Canal, Boston 1827; ref. courtesy of A. M. Levitt 2006.

Hillhouse died in 1832.

45. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 5.

46. J. F. Baldwin, 1827-1828, Plan of a survey [etc.]: a map, and “Report of Mr. Baldwin on the rail-road

surveys [etc.] 1828."

47. Appleton 1871: 2.

48. Report of the Board of Directors [etc.] 1829; Appleton 1871: 1, 2.

49. Appleton 1871: 2.

50. Report of the Board of Directors [etc.] 1829.

51. Day 1970: 11. Distrust even in England over the use of steam locomotion was revealed when the Stockton

& Darlington was proposed as a railway on which cars could be drawn "by men, horses, or any other means"

(Zanetti and Garcia 1987-88: 19). Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 255-7), however, using the railroads of New York state

as an example, goes into considerable detail to "demonstrate the superiority of steam power over horse power in

economic terms" except on short runs. One such short run where horse haulage proved viable was the Dedham

Branch of Boston & Providence.

52. Mass. Internal Improvement B'd 1828; Bayles 1891; Harlow 1946: 104.

53. Hayward 1828 (rep't). Baer (2005) follows the date of Dec. 1828 with a question mark.

54. FWP-RI 1937: 53; Harlow 1946: 104.

55. Appleton 1871: 1; Bayles 1891; Copeland 1930a, 1936-56: 59; Belcher 1938: no. 1. Traffic predictions were

based roughly on what the stage lines had carried between the two state capitals.

A French army officer, J.-B. Barres, found his first ride on a horse railway from Lyons to St.-Etienne in Aug.

1834 to be pleasant and convenient. “The carriages were well sprung and very comfortable, each being drawn by

two powerful horses, which went at a gallop” at a speed of more than 8 mph. On downgrades “the carriages [presumably controlled by brakemen] went without the assistance of the horses,” the gentle slope being sufficient to give them a speed of 15 to 18 mph.

56. Bayles 1891.

57. Hayward 1828 (map). Belcher 1938: no. 1 and Cartwright 1976: 3 say June 1828, but the date on Hayward's

map of the finished survey is clear. I have taken all data relative to the survey lines from this map and by comparing

it to present-day U. S. G. S. quadrangle maps.

58. Scale of Hayward‟s map is 1:64,000 or nearly one inch to the mile. This is the earliest railway map in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Hayward, who was graduated from Harvard in 1819, was born in Concord,

Mass., 12 June 1786, died in Boston 27 July 1866. He also surveyed the proposed Boston & Worcester R. R.,

though the work was redone by James F. Baldwin. In 1838-40 he surveyed the Boston & Maine R. R. Harlow

(1946: 55n) remarks on the "delightfully homy flavor" of Hayward's report on the planned Boston & Providence, of

46

which he quotes parts: "It was proposed to leave the neighborhood of the meadow near Mr. Shanley's, and pass up a

ravine nearly in the direction of the Rev. Mr. Hontoon's church. . . . The distance from Sharon Factory to Mr.

Comey's is 5 miles, 17 chains, 50 links. . . . If the line could be carried straight from Mr. Clark's to Mr. Timothy

Morse's, the distance would be 5 or 6 chains less. . . . It passes near Jabez Kingsbury's, over what is called High

Plain, on the west side of Moose Hill; near Zeba Plympton's and Thomas Clap's." A surveyor's chain was 66 feet,

divided into 100 links of 7.92 inches each. Hayward's map shows Sharon Factory at mile 16-1/4 on the eastern

route, and the house of a Thomas Clark is indicated on the same route east of Bearfoot Hill. Lacking Hayward‟s report, I cannot identify any of the other sites.

59. The U. S. G. S. Norwood quadrangle uses the singular, but old documents such as the Whistler steaming

report add the "s". My proofreading being imperfect, I may have waffled between "Meadow" and "Meadows."

60. Hayward's map does not include a profile, as do most railroad maps. It can be assumed that grades were less

critical for horse-drawn vehicles than for locomotives and therefore of less interest. Or perhaps there was a separate

profile.

61. Van Zandt (1966: 101) explains the moving of the state line in 1862.

62. Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, v. 137, p. 1.

63. Belcher 1938: no. 1.

64. Bayles 1891.

65. The Economist, U. S. edition, 16 May 1998.

66. "Railroading in the United States [says Dupuy 1940-43: 271], to put it bluntly, owes more to West Point than

to any other institution in the country." From 1830-1870 West Point was the nation's preeminent technical and

engineering school, and most early railroad construction was accomplished either by active army officers loaned by

the government or West Point graduates who had resigned the stagnant military service to pursue civilian careers in

the rapidly expanding and far more exciting and remunerative field of railroad engineering.

Until the mid-1850s all West Point graduates were “engineers.” The Regulations of the U. S. Military Academy at

West Point (1832) included, under “civil engineering,” “different kinds of rail-roads; survey, location, and

construction of a line of railway; [and] economy of transportation on rail-roads.” Engineering was studied in the “First Class,” i.e., the senior, not the freshman class as might be supposed, along with nine other subjects. About

one-seventh of the seniors‟ time was given to engineering (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2004). McNeill and Whistler, however, were graduated from West Point before the beginning of the railway era.

67. White 1968-79: 3, 167. The other two men were Jonathan Knight and Bryant‟s bugbear Ross Winans, neither of whom were military officers. Knight and Benjamin H. Latrobe, "two very well known, highly respected civil

engineers," supervised construction of the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. under Lt. Col. Stephen H. Long. In 1834 Knight

was one of three engineers surveying the New York & Erie R. R. (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 261, 640, 825).

68. One must visit Paris to view this famous portrait, "Mrs. George Washington Whistler." The artist, contrary to

what would be expected from one who held his mother in such known esteem, called it "Arrangement in Grey and

Black No. 1."

69. See Lozier (1886: 267-70) for the devious means by which English textile machinery was smuggled into

New England. In one case in 1839 a Fall River, Mass., mill owner and his superintendent on a visit to England

retained a professional smuggler to sneak coveted machinery aboard ship. But railroad engineers visiting the Mother

Country seem to have encountered no such obstacles; indeed, they appear to have been overwhelmed with

47

hospitality.

70. Stapleton, in Chrimes, date unknown; Dupuy 1940-43: 271, who reports that one result of the trip was that

in 1829 river boats unloaded at Cold Spring, N. Y., opposite West Point, three steam locomotives from England,

which were assembled at the West Point Foundry.

Whistler generally is referred to as a major (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 820, 825; Harlow 1946: 86), but apparently

the highest official U. S. Army rank he ever held was first lieutenant (Appletons 1886; A. M. Levitt, pers. comm.

1999). Remarking on the dearth of early information regarding Whistler and the others and the uncertainty of their

military ranks, Levitt (pers. comm. 1998) comments, "Records at the USMA archives at West Point and dates-of-

rank are a bit be-fogged!" Whistler is called a "Major General" in an undated paper compiled by Canton (Mass.)

Hist. Soc., perhaps confusing him with Capt. William Gibbs McNeill, who was given that rank by the state of

Rhode Island during Dorr's Rebellion in 1842. (Refer to Appendix I for biography of Whistler.)

Levitt (pers. comm. 1999) speculates that one of the West Pointers' objectives in England may have fallen under

the heading of what now is called "industrial espionage" if not military and/or political espionage. But if so, it is

significant that Whistler et al. did not bring back to the U. S. other English railway practices such as left-handed

running, hook-and-buffer couplings, ticket and booking office procedures, job titles, operational jargon, and

nomenclature; nor did such practices accompany or follow the later importation of English locomotives to America.

Neither did the English appear to look on the visits as spy missions. Colin Divall, professor of railway studies at the

University of York, U. K., explains (Divall 2000: 139): "Even when there is a physical transfer of equipment as well

as of ideas from one country to another, it is rare for either to escape modification in the recipient culture. We can

see this plainly with the attempted transfer of the British railway system to the U. S. in the 1820s and 1830s; the

changes needed in the new country were so extensive that American railroads became a distinctive species." Charles

Darwin please take note!

There was a precedent for West Pointers going abroad to study railroads as well as military matters. In 1827

Dennis Hart Mahan, assistant professor of engineering at the Military Academy, while on furlough in France

reported on the superelevation of the outer rail on curves, which he had observed on a railway at St. Etienne (Dupuy

1943: 142). Superelevation had been introduced earlier by Anglo-American Charles Blacker Vignoles, who worked

in England and Europe (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2002, ref: K. H. Vignoles, 1982, Charles Blacker Vignoles), and

by 1839 superelevation was used on the curves of the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 832).

That no British engineers appear to have come over to inspect and study U. S. railroads (at least not for 100 or

more years, when they visited to study U. S. dieselization of motive power) would suggest that they felt they had

nothing to learn from their upstart former colonials.

71. See Appendix I for biography of McNeill.

72. White 1968-79: 3, 167.

73. Belcher 1938: no. 1.

74. Clarkin 1954: 16.

75. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 2-3; Harlow 1946: 77. This company is not to be confused with the Boston &

Taunton R. R. Corp. that resulted from a name change from Old Colony R. R. Corp.

76. Anonymous source.

77. Appleton 1871: 2; Burrows 1980; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 5; Barrett 1996: 25.

48

3 – The Boston and Providence (steam) Rail Road

Yes, the name was written as two words, "Rail Road" (in the early years sometimes hyphenated

"Rail-Road"), to help distinguish it in the public mind from the conventional non-rail road that

everyone was used to.[1] With this rebirth of the Boston and Providence it was decided that

steam locomotive engines, not horses, would provide the motive power, a wise choice.[2]

The larger idea of a Boston, Providence and Taunton Rail Road having been shoved to the

back burner, the Massachusetts legislature in its May 1831 session approved House Document

number 20,[3] the incorporation[4] on 21 June of The Boston and Providence Rail-Road

Corporation,[5] and on 22 June[6] granted to a group of private investors a charter, protected by

a 30-year monopoly on the route,[7] that authorized them to construct and operate a railroad

from Boston – not quite yet to Providence (as we have said, Rhode Island for all practical

purposes was another country) – but to a temporary southern terminus at the Rhode Island state

line in either Pawtucket or the town of Seekonk, Massachusetts, on the east bank of Seekonk

River across from Providence.[8]

This seems odd, because in June 1828 the Rhode Island legislature had authorized the Boston

and Providence horse railway to enter that state, and James Hayward's 1828 survey map shows

the westernmost of his proposed roads crossing the state line as though it did not exist. But this

authorization had been withdrawn upon the abandonment of the horse railway project, with the

result that the steam road's charter did not confer the right to carry track into the Ocean State.

However on 11 July 1831 the Rhode Island General Assembly decided to get back in the game

and authorized formation of the complementary Boston and Providence Rail Road and

Transportation Company to connect end-to-end with the Massachusetts track at the state line and

to which permission was granted to construct a continuation of the railroad across Seekonk

River to a tidewater terminal at India Point in Providence,[9] which would mean a sizeable

bridge.

Two simultaneous events – the introduction into the United States of the steam railroad and

49

Andrew Jackson‟s two terms (for better or worse) in the presidency – combined to draw a sharp

line between America Past and America Future. In 1830 there were 23 miles of public railroad in

the country. This mileage grew to 1098 in 1835 and to 2800 in 1840. New England lagged a bit

behind other sections of the Atlantic seaboard in getting its railroads under way – the Baltimore

and Ohio opened 24 May 1830, though at first it used horses for power – but by 1831 was

scrambling hard to make up the difference. The Massachusetts General Court, besides having

granted a charter for the construction of the Boston and Lowell, gave a charter to the Boston and

Worcester on 23 June 1831, one day after their grant to the Boston and Providence; the Worcester

company was organized 25 July 1831.[10] Part of the reason behind this lag, which seems so

unnatural in view of the Bay State's considerable industrial preeminence, was a typical

Massachusetts one – opposition by the churches, many of whose puritan/Calvinist/Spartan

worshipers and clergy had convinced themselves and hoped to convince others that convenient,

swift travel on smooth-running iron roads would somehow lower the prevailing standards of

morality.[11] And there were other objections a-plenty. Because horses would no longer be

needed, (or so it was incorrectly thought) growers and sellers of oats and hay would be ruined.

Domestic animals would suffer injury from the noise of the locomotives, the smoke would hurt

fruit trees, real estate would be destroyed by sparks from the engine stacks (a genuine menace,

this, as will be seen!) and farmers would suffer unspecified damage of all sorts.[12]

The Boston and Providence charter contained some special provisions. The corporation was

authorized to "establish all such by-laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances as they may deem

expedient and necessary to accomplish the designs and purposes [of the charter] and for the well

ordering, regulating, and securing the interests and affairs of the corporation." It ceded them the

right to govern their own track as they best saw fit. The transport of passengers and freight, the

construction of cars and car wheels, the tonnages carried "and all other things in relation to the

use of said road, shall be in conformity to such rules, regulations, and provisions as the Directors

shall, from time to time, direct."[13]

The corporation was enjoined by the legislature to keep no secrets. Whereas some states,

Illinois, for example, were to directly control the railroad business (when they got it) within their

borders through fixed rates backed by a strong commission having law enforcement powers,

others, like Massachusetts, chose to indirectly control their railways by requiring that accounting

information be disclosed to a weak examining commission having only advisory powers plus the

duty of making reports to the legislature. The directors of Boston and Providence were to report

50

annually to the General Court the company's receipts, expenditures and operations, and the

corporation's books "shall at all times be open to the inspection of any Communities or the

Legislature." Failure to comply would mean stiff penalties.[14]

Some of the charter provisions, because of the inexperience of legislators and businessmen

when it came to railroads, proved to be potential legal booby-traps. For instance, it was set out

that any other railroad company might join its tracks to those of the Boston and Providence

provided they paid appropriate compensation. Perhaps the General Court was afraid of aiding in

the establishment of a monopoly, which seems to have been a recurring bad dream of the time.

The basic problem in 1831 was that everyone was still in the grasp of the turnpike and canal

mentality, and none had thought to legally and practically define a railroad – what it was and

what it could and could not do. Turnpike companies built roads, and canal companies built

artificial waterways. Anyone could roll his cart, wagon, stagecoach – or canal boat – over these

thoroughfares merely by paying a toll. Shouldn't the same open access be allowed with a

railroad? And if an individual could operate his own locomotive and cars over a railway, why

couldn't another railroad company do the same if they paid a fee? This vast uncertainty was to

lead in 1837 to the benchmark "Great Seekonk Railroad Case" which after a prolonged wrangle

was decided by a special committee of the Massachusetts senate in favor of the exclusive

franchise principle.[15]

The rationale behind the Boston and Providence Rail Road differed from that of other rail lines

being built in the United States. Most early American railroads were based on the idea of hauling

farm, forest and mineral products to the Atlantic wharves for export, and carrying manufactures

and textiles back into the interior, both at lowest possible cost. (This notion, at first so popular

with New Englanders, was to backfire when cheap meat, grain and lumber from mid-western

farms, brought eastward aboard freight trains at low rates, helped destroy the Yankee farmers,

who thus were hoist by their own petard.) Hence the thinking behind Boston and Worcester and

its logical extension the Western Railroad, the Boston and Lowell, the later Providence and

Worcester, and other roads terminating along the Atlantic seaboard. Those railways, with one end

firmly anchored at a seaport, were extended up river valleys or inland across country with the

idea that they would supplant stage and wagon roads and canals. None of these corporations

thought of competing with the coastwise steamers or, heaven forfend, integrating their service

end-to-end with the steamboat lines.

The seaport-to-the-western-interior approach made sense in a way, but the economic structure

of Massachusetts had changed since the early days of the Industrial Revolution and no longer

51

depended on transatlantic commercial traffic moving in and out of Boston. Partly this came about

by default: Jefferson's 1807 trade embargo, which halted importation of English manufactured

goods, followed by Madison's War of 1812, in which the Royal Navy forced New England to

become self-supporting, had wrecked Boston as an international port. But Massachusetts by being

among the first of the states to subordinate across-the-seas trade to its own production industry

had become a self-contained economic power in its own right, and now, though agriculturalists

and the Boston merchants and bankers still possessed plenty of clout, the Bay State was one of

the foremost to make a buck from its internal businesses as the moneyed class switched from

commerce to manufacturing.[16]

The promoters of the Boston and Providence Rail Road, in quite the opposite rationale to that

motivating the westward-reaching lines, in the beginning had dual desires: first, to capture for the

Boston market the trade of the developing industries of southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode

Island, which were being strangled by transportation difficulties; and second, to shorten the

scheduled time for Boston-New York (and even Philadelphia) passenger and freight traffic

traveling parallel to the coast instead of perpendicular to it. This concept of joint train-steamboat

intermodal service (the word “intermodal” of course had not yet been invented, but that‟s what the contemplated service was) represented a logical forward step from that of the earlier

stagecoach/packet operators whose trips from Boston to New York via Newport or Providence

avoided the often dangerous and uncomfortable sea voyage around Cape Cod.[17] This the

railroad could do and do better by building a fairly straight track only 42 miles long cutting

across the southeast corner of New England from one seaport to another, from which point –

Providence -- steamboats would continue on via Long Island Sound to New York City.[18]

The importance of this land-water connection between Boston and New York was not a new

idea. A half century earlier, as we have seen, when Colonel Israel Hatch presided over his Steam

Boat Hotel in the northern part of Attleborough, stagecoaches from Boston connected at

Providence with New York boats. Now it was the turn of the faster and more efficient steam cars.

In this sense, the proposed railroad might reasonably have been styled "The Boston,

Providence and New York," advertising all-steam service by land and water between The Hub

and Gotham. Like the stagecoach operators before them, the railroad corporation considered it

critically important to cooperate with the steamboaters; and even before they began laying their

roadbed they got in touch with "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt,[19] who operated a

substantial and lucrative all-year-round boat service between Providence and New York to which

trains from Boston could connect. It was clear to the organizers of the Boston and Providence that

52

by serving as a feeder line to the steamboats they could turn a healthy profit while providing a

valuable and needed service.

A little later, when the New-York, Providence and Boston (“Stonington”) Rail Road between Providence and Stonington, Connecticut, opened for service and the Long Island Railroad was

under construction, it was thought that by extending the latter road to the east end of the island,

boats might connect from there with Stonington trains, making possible New York-Boston service

with most of the distance covered by rail, with the three railroads taking away much of the

business now in the hands of the Long Island Sound steamboat companies.[20]

With all due respect to the Rhode Island capital and its inhabitants, these far-seeing plans

meant that Providence, described by Washington Irving as a place "famous for its dusty streets

and beauteous women," was in the eyes of the railroad builders only a way station or stepping

stone on the grand route from The Home of the Bean and the Cod to The Big Apple. For their

purposes, Seekonk would serve temporarily almost as well as Providence itself, though their

ultimate intent was to live up to the railroad's given name and carry the track across a bridge into

the Rhode Island capital.

* * *

The initial charter business of the Boston and Providence Rail Road out of the way (or so it

was thought), on 11 July 1831,[21] the same day Rhode Island decided to get back in the game, a

joint stock company was organized. Thomas B. Wales of Boston, voted by the directors as

chairman of the six-man board, automatically by rule became the corporation's first president.

Already an interlocking directorate had been set up: two of the other directors, John F. Loring and

Patrick T. Jackson, Wales's next-door neighbor on Winter Street, Boston, were also promoters of

the Boston and Lowell Rail Road.[22]

In August the board engaged 30-year-old West Point graduate[23] Captain William Gibbs

McNeill, on detached service from the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, as

chief engineer to survey several routes of which the optimum one would be adopted for the line

between Boston and Seekonk. Whether the directors fully realized it, in McNeill they obtained a

rare gem. A Southerner, the new chief engineer had been graduated from the United States

Military Academy in 1817 at the precocious age of 17! He then entered the artillery branch of the

army, but served on topographical duty until January 1823, when he was transferred to the

Topographical Engineers and breveted a captain. Since then, he had worked at building canals

and channeling rivers in the middle-Atlantic states and from 1827 to 1830 served on the board of

engineers in charge of surveying and constructing the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, during

53

which period, as previously described, he paid a fact-finding visit to Merrie Olde England and

George Stephenson, birthplace and father, respectively, of steam railways. He had just now

wrapped up a stint as chief construction engineer with the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad.

McNeill began his surveys immediately[24] and continued them into the spring of 1832,

assisted by two other West Point grads, the kindly W. Raymond Lee (the "W." stood for William)

and the pugnacious, hard-driving Virginian, Isaac Ridgeway Trimble,[25] and by Joseph Willard

Capron of Attleborough, L. M. E. Stone, a surveyor and civil engineer from Providence, and

Joseph N. Cunningham.[26] McNeill's handsome brother-in-law First Lieutenant George

Washington Whistler, five months older than McNeill, was hired in nice disregard of nepotism as

assistant and consulting engineer.[27]

McNeill's first duty was to determine the best line for the railroad that answered its intended

purpose for the least cost. This initial operation was far and away the most important and difficult

part of the survey and required the highest degree of engineering skill, derived from considerable

practice and close observation of the terrain plus an ability to grasp and assess all the complex

aspects of the project. It meant selecting a general route and then, once the board of directors had

decided on the best available course, fitting the chosen line to the geography in a way that would

keep to a minimum the costs of building, maintaining and operating the railroad.

The state of Massachusetts having given the Boston and Providence until January 1834 to file

their completed plans for the location of the road and until 1 January 1837 to finish construction,

[28] the corporation was gung-ho to get to work, and despite some serious non-railroad-related

riots between seamen and blacks in Providence in late September 1831 that required calling out

the military, the surveys went quickly and (unlike the public works we have grown accustomed to)

were finished well ahead of schedule.

Even before the incorporation of the Boston and Providence steam railroad, several preliminary

surveys which must have been of considerable aid to McNeill had been made, including

Hayward's study for the abortive horse railway. This meant the chief engineer could leave out

much of the usual initial reconnaissance ("reconnoissance," Captain McNeill most likely would

have spelled it). Still, there must have been gaps and relatively unknown areas that required him to

go carefully over the ground, taking bearings with his pocket compass, pacing distances or

measuring them with an odometer wheel, determining differences of elevation by means of a hand

sighting level, sounding the depths of swamps and deciding where and how best to cross the

several small intervening rivers, the valley at Canton and the Sharon uplands halfway between

54

Boston and Seekonk.

The next stage of a survey usually called for a transit party, a level party and a topographic party

to follow one another in that order across country. These normally included a chief who would

have reported to McNeill, a transitman, leveler, topographer and two or more helpers, two or three

rodmen with their range poles and flags, a stake-cutter and -driver, at least a couple of ax-men to

clear the way and perhaps a cook and bottle-washer and a teamster with horse and wagon – the

latter half dozen men generally of Irish immigrant origin. Here we have a scene resembling the

one briefly described by Ralph Waldo Emerson in a letter of 10 June 1843 to his friend Henry

David Thoreau, then tutoring on Staten Island. Emerson was writing of the laying out of the

Fitchburg Railroad through Concord, but one can easily transpose his description to any of the

villages along the route of the Boston and Providence:

The town is full of Irish & the woods of engineers with theodolite & red flag singing out their feet &

inches to each other from station to station.[29]

Young West Pointer McNeill made sure his forces earned their wages (we can imagine him as

he stalked the right-of-way, his military forthrightness only slightly softened by a southern accent

– the metaphor of an iron hand in a velvet glove comes to mind, though I may badly misjudge the

captain's nature) because he, his assistants and their crews ambitiously reconnoitered and recorded

compass bearings, distances and elevations on 11 different routes through the farms, fields, woods

and swamps, amounting, it is claimed, to an aggregate length of over 800 miles.[30]

One of these routes, somewhat like Hayward's western horse-car survey, passed through South

Dedham (now Norwood), East Walpole, Walpole Center, Wrentham, Foxborough Center and

Attleborough. Another ran east of the present Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro (the modern

spelling leaves off the useless terminal "ugh"), at least a half mile east of the final location.[31]

McNeill does not appear to have made any particular attempt to follow either of Hayward's two

main survey lines, but the routes did coincide in places, and toward the southern end, between

Attleborough and Seekonk, the lines were nearly identical.[32]

Late in 1831 portions of McNeill's survey were sufficiently hardened so that preparations could

be made to begin actual construction down on the Seekonk end of the line in 1832.[33] President

and chairman Thomas B. Wales and the other company officers then began casting about for a

competent man to take charge of this new phase of the work. They didn't have to cast far. At the

55

time, few if any skilled engineers experienced in building railroads were to be found in America.

McNeill's efforts as boss surveyor being eminently satisfactory, the company decided he was of

the right stuff to be the first superintendent of the road. Although at that moment they had only the

fuzziest idea of future difficulties to be overcome, they must afterward have looked back with

pleasure at their choice. It wasn't long, under McNeill's brisk direction, before construction got

going on both ends of the line.[34]

In April 1832, well within the time allotted by the state, McNeill submitted to the Boston and

Providence directors his final report as required by state law, accompanied by plans and grade

profiles on a scale of 80 rods (one quarter mile) to the inch, a geological summary of the terrain,

and cost estimates for each of the 11 routes surveyed.[35]

Not all was smooth sailing. The railroad's enthusiastic supporters had to endure a barrage of

public criticism and even ridicule. On 6 April 1832, about the time McNeill handed in his report, it

happened that the editor of the Providence Gazette came back from an ocean voyage by steamship

hipped on the wonders of steam power. But when he editorialized, "We hope before many years to

see a steam-carriage on a railroad between this city and Boston," those readers who remembered

the 1828 flop of the horse railway sneered and jeered at both him and his newspaper.[36] At about

the same time, for reasons I will come to in the following chapter, Rhode Islanders began to waffle

in their initial affection for the proposed rail line.

* * *

Many early railroads in the United States were built on the "connect-the-dots" principle, in

which tracks were laid from one town to the next town to the next to create routes locally useful

on a small scale but as crooked as if engineered by a wandering snake. This principle had been

passed down from earliest colonial times, when the first footpaths, later to become roads, were laid

out to connect one settler's front door to another. But the Boston and Providence Rail Road for the

moment was interested in just two large dots, the cities of Boston and Providence, and as had been

the case with the turnpike, any smaller dot that chanced to lie off a bee line between those termini

was apt to be bypassed and left to shiver in the cold. Preference for this straight-line route showed

that the first goal of the original Boston and Providence promoters, to provide decent

transportation for the industries of southeastern New England, had been shoved aside in favor of

their second and larger aim, to inaugurate the most nearly direct rail-water route possible between

Boston and New York.

This aim was revealed[37] when the railroad's directors gave the South Dedham (Norwood)-

Walpole concept short shrift and settled on the shortest and straightest of McNeill's survey routes.

56

The approved line began in the western edge of Boston and was to run along the shallow valley of

Stony Brook through Roxbury, Jamaica Plains (as it was known before the final “s” was dropped) and part of Dedham, then Canton, Sharon, a corner of Foxborough, Mansfield and

Attleborough[38] to the temporary terminal on Seekonk River, a distance of 41 miles.

The coming of the railroad was good news to some, bad news to others. Then, as now, just as

communities differ over the desirability of new interstate highways and rail commuter lines, some

municipalities wanted train service and some (surprisingly!) didn't. As mentioned, one of

McNeill's surveys passed through the center of Foxborough. But influential townsmen who

opposed the railroad invited a number of the "right people" to a big supper and by the time the

meal was digested and the segars smoked down to a clean white ash the location had been

magically changed.[39] Over-the-road teamsters, stagecoach owners and drivers and the

proprietors of wayside taverns who depended on the coaches for their business understandably

hated to see the railroad – "the 'tarnation thing," Mansfield carter Noah Fillebrown called it[40] –

come. And in fact the railroad caused Fillebrown to lose his business.

Others looked on the proposed track as a gift poured from the cornucopia of the gods. It meant

improved transport for the people of the towns and the many diverse products they manufactured.

In 1833, Mansfield, an undistinguished flatland village a few miles nearer Providence than

Boston, with a population of 1172 persons, was a transportation no-man‟s-land. The town. enjoyed

no scheduled stagecoaches, the nearest point having a regular stage line being five miles away, and

the mail was delivered to town only two or three times a week if that. The potential was there: six

small mills produced cotton thread and cloth, there was one woollen mill, two or three sawmills

and two factories that stamped out tacks and nails, while baskets and straw bonnets were

plentifully manufactured.[41] But the products of all these minor industries were shipped by

saddle bag, coach or wagon.

One day, Benjamin Briggs, the oldest son of Emerson Briggs of Mansfield, came into the house

in great excitement to tell his father that some new carriages were to run between Boston and

Providence drawn by steam on "iron ruts." The senior Briggs very emphatically told his know-it-

all son not to repeat such nonsense. But the older man lived to send, with the aid of his sons, many

loads of ship timber from his woodlots over those rails.[42]

Many of the small town citizens along the route complained that the railroad, with its two

seaport terminals, would result in a flood of imported goods that would bankrupt their local

industries. This resembles the fright caused when the North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) of our times was proposed. But the road‟s directors, if they heard these gripes, ignored

57

them; they were more interested in enriching themselves and their stockholders than in public

opinion in wayside towns.

An Attleboro historian gives the Boston and Providence credit for converting the tiny village of

East Attleborough, which was unequal in importance even to the nearby mill hamlet of

Dodgeville, into the present thriving city. Indeed, a major battle was fought between North

Attleborough and East Attleborough, both then parts of the same town (North now is a separate

town), to get the railroad exclusively for themselves. McNeill had laid out two slightly differing

routes through Attleborough, which diverged from one another in the vicinity of the present

Lindsey Street 1-1/2 mile northeast of East Attleborough center. One line ran straight through

relatively unsettled countryside, the other would swing northward through the village of Oldtown,

then called Attleborough City, the local population and industrial center.

Jewelry manufacture, for which Attleborough was to become noted, was begun in the northern

part of the town as early as 1780 by a Frenchman whose name no one can remember, and the first

jewelry manufacturing company was organized there in 1807. By the 1830s the town boasted five

jewelry shops, seven cotton mills, two button factories one of which was the first in the United

States, a spindle factory, a rolling mill and several machine and trip hammer shops associated with

these industries. East Attleborough, on the other hand, could brag of nothing grander than a

shuttleshop[43] employing only a dozen men.

But never mind; thanks to the railroad, the unpromising East village would quickly overtake and

pass its wealthier and more important neighbor. When McNeill unrolled his map in front of the

road's directors and showed them the two divergent lines, they picked the shorter and straighter

layout through East Attleborough, which Hayward had called "Attleborough Precinct." This route

would require less building material and thus would be cheaper to construct and when opened for

service would permit faster train speeds on the tangent track. Most important, the straight line,

though it ignored some local population centers, would whisk passengers and freight quickly on

the greater route between Boston and New York.

But another voice remained to be heard. Attleborough's aforementioned Colonel Israel Hatch,

besides operating three hostelries in Boston, still owned the Steam Boat Hotel in the north part of

town. The hotel was also the Attleborough post office, situated on the toll road – the present Route

1A a half mile south of the North Attleborough-Wrentham (since 1906, Plainville) town line. The

influential Colonel Hatch had a natural interest in preserving the stage traffic that stopped at his

Attleborough hostelry. If the proposed railroad diverted business from the toll highway, at the very

least he expected to corner some of it. But when he learned that the corporation planned to cold-

58

shoulder his part of town altogether, he went ballistic at thoughts of the customers and probably

also the mail contract he would lose. Many other Northies felt the same way.

Colonel Hatch, like so many others who erect a foundation of specious reasons on which to base

and preserve their own vested interests, contended that if a stagecoach could get from Boston to

New York in three days (this was his optimistic figure, not necessarily based on reality), why

waste a fortune building a railroad and equipping it with "steam cars."

He pointed out what was then the truth: that in many ways the tried and true horse was more

reliable than the newfangled steam engine. Horses always could be depended on to get through

with a stage, but if the en-jine broke down the passengers would sit there until it could be repaired.

It was a fact that on some pioneer railroads in the United States, horse-drawn empty coaches were

sent out for backup purposes in the wake of steam trains in case the locomotive failed, and on

some roads the engines were stored through the winter months and strong snowdrift-busting draft

horses were used in their place. And, as Hatch took pains to remind everyone who chose to listen,

sparks from an engine over in New York state had badly burned some passengers by setting their

clothing on fire. There was even one account of a woman passenger almost "denuded" when her

ensemble was torched by sparks, an event that, though it undoubtedly made her fellow travelers sit

up and take notice, did nothing for the prevailing standards of morality that so worried the

churchly types.

But despite Hatch's protests the corporation's final decision was to leave North Attleborough in

the lurch, and the Colonel's Steam Boat Hotel, like Noah Fillebrown's teaming business, was

ruined – it went bankrupt shortly after the trains began to run. For forty years afterward,

businessmen of the North village remained riled up that the railroad was so possessed by the

straight-line craze that they ignored the most populous and industrialized part of their town.[44]

The route east of Sturdy Hospital also was given up in favor of the tangent line. But townsfolk

in East Attleborough, instead of gloating at their victory, might have done well to note that the

survey line approved by the directors sliced straight through the sacred ground of their venerated

Old Kirk Yard cemetery. We will see in Chapter Seven what entertainment came of that!

Neither did the siren call of the village of Central Falls (then a part of Smithfield, Rhode Island)

nor the lure of the larger manufacturing locality of Pawtucket, both situated north of Providence,

divert McNeill and the Boston and Providence directors from their bee-line course.

In Dedham, a prosperous, long established residential and industrial town, the residents also had

a bone to pick. The original Walpole survey had put the railroad through the center of Dedham, but

the final route bypassed that place, ostensibly because of hills and a series of swamps on the

59

line[45] – Hayward's 1828 survey map depicts a formidable mile-wide cedar bog between

Walpole and Wrentham. (The real reason for the abandonment came out a bit later. Neither the

engineers nor the directors knew at that time that they were to get bogged in a far more serious

swamp in Mansfield.) Dedham, with its influential Yankee squirearchy, its gentlemen farmers who

had moved there from Boston to enjoy la dolce vita, its home-grown husbandmen practicing

traditional agriculture, and its water-powered factories and mills, felt, as did the north section of

Attleborough, unfairly rejected and neglected.

Their outrage made no difference in the choice of the route; but it did create enough noise so

that in the end Dedham, if deprived of the main line, got the earliest and most important branch of

the new railroad. Walpole too felt jilted, and this seemingly deliberate slight remained a sore point

with some of that town's residents for years afterward, so that North Attleborough did not sulk

alone.

One might reasonably wonder why the less steeply graded route through Dedham was given up

in favor of the Readville-Canton line. The rejected line had swamps, to be sure. But final plans for

the Boston and Providence sent the road for nearly three miles at a constant elevation of 50 to 55

feet above sea level across the Neponset River flood plain and marsh known as Fowl Meadow[46]

or, alternatively, Canton Meadows, in the towns of Canton and Dedham, where stabilizing the fill

must have been a challenge – even now one can stand by the track there and feel the right-of-way

undulate under his feet as a train speeds by.

From these watery lowlands (now seasonally lovely with acres of purple loosestrife detested as

an intrusive alien by naturalists) at a point (Amtrak milepost 215.84, just north of the present

Route I-95 overpasses[47]) a bit more than 12 miles from the proposed depot at Pleasant Street in

Boston, the railroad begins its climb out of what geologists call the Boston Basin toward the

rugged rock ridges north of Canton. After that comes the six-tenths-of-a-mile-wide, 60- or 70-foot-

deep vale of the East Branch of the Neponset River, then known as Canton River. South of this

steep-walled valley the line continues its climb to the summit of Sharon Hill at around Amtrak

milepost 209, in 1835 about 19 miles from the proposed Boston starting point.

The Dedham route, though a bit longer, might have permitted a less steep approach to Sharon

Hill from the northwest and possibly an avoidance of the worst of the Canton rock ridges and

valley. So why the choice of the more difficult course?

To answer this question we must look at the eminent Revere family. In 1801 Paul Revere, he of

the famous 1775 "midnight ride," removed from Boston to Canton and purchased the site of a

blown-up Revolutionary gunpowder mill on which he built a brass and copper foundry, the Revere

60

Copper Company (Plymouth Rubber Company occupies the site now). When Revere died in 1818

his eleventh child and fourth son Joseph Warren Revere (1777-1868) and grandson Frederick

Walker Lincoln took over the business. In those early days the copper was imported from overseas

and carted in and out of Canton over the highways in wagons drawn by ox teams. Obviously a

railroad would be a great boon to the business; and naturally enough, Joseph Warren Revere

managed to become one of the six-member board of directors of Boston and Providence Rail Road

as well as one of its principal stockholders. From early in 1834 when McNeill presented his 11

proposed routes to the Commonwealth, Revere lobbied insistently for the path that would bring

the railroad through the busy manufacturing town of Canton rather than Dedham. Thus it was

more than coincidence that the final right-of-way lay within a quarter mile of Revere's copper

works, permitting later the building of a spur track from the main line to his factory.[48]

The possibility that certain aspects of this decision may have been made almost at the last

minute is suggested by University Road, which branches in a south-southwest direction off

Dedham Street in Canton. Until fairly recently University Road was a cartpath atop a seemingly

useless causeway that departed the line of the railroad at the first point of curvature south of

Readville, at Amtrak milepost 216.33 about 260 feet south of the Dedham Street overpass and just

south of the Neponset River bridge. This fill, now a paved road, ignores the left-hand curve of the

railroad and charges straight ahead in line with the previous tangent for 0.72 mile until it

encounters a little neck of ground moraine about 900 feet west of the tracks. But this is not the

finish.

Although the present University Road dead-ends at that point, the line continues, or did so

before construction of Interstate Route 95 messed up the terrain, after a very slight left-hand bend

to avoid Neponset River, in the form of a footpath through the Neponset marshes for another 1.10

mile to the former Canton Airport on the northeast side of Neponset Street.[49] Was this 1.82-mile

relic an initial attempt by McNeill to avoid the intervening rock ridge and the steep-sided valley at

Canton by making use of the Neponset lowlands for a greater distance, bypassing the present site

of Canton station by 0.6 mile to the west? And was this line abandoned after a considerable

amount of filling had been done when, because of pressure exerted by Joseph Warren Revere to

move the route nearer his copper works, the directors decided to tackle the Canton ridge and vale

head-on? In other words, was this a pre-viaduct alignment? In my opinion, quite possibly.

The railroad corporation was super-quick to react to Revere's desires. Once the revised route

was decided on, it was planned at first to cross the river valley at Canton by means of inclined

61

planes similar to those used in England as well as in New York and Pennsylvania, and somewhat

like (a double-sided version of) the plane on the Granite Railway. But it is obvious that by 20 April

1834 that idea had been sunk in favor of plans for a great stone bridge, because on that date

McNeill laid the foundation cornerstone for the proposed and still-existing Canton viaduct![50]

This decision to take the railroad by way of Canton rather than Dedham is said to have impeded

the progress of Norwood (as South Dedham is now called) for many years.[51]

* * *

The energetic McNeill and his field corps having been turned loose again on the New England

countryside, they at once concentrated on the detailed locating of the proposed railroad along the

chosen route. This meant whacking off woods and brush until the right-of-way was bare as the

palm of one's hand, running in the curves and then the connecting tangents, hammering stakes and

planting permanent benchmarks, querying elderly local folks about their sometimes shaky

memories of all-time flood levels of streams so bridges and culverts might be built sufficiently

high and capacious. And all this, while in summer sweating out the humid heat,[52] measuring

lines across sun-beaten pastures in which biting "hossflies" orbited their heads like asteroids or

hacking through mosquito-infested swamps where the surveyors wallowed shin-deep in muck and

water while struggling to stabilize their three-legged transits, bedeviled by poison ivy and the

more insidious and toxic poison sumac; and in winter, battling snow, sleet, ice and boreal blasts of

wind in an era far more frigid than ours.[53]

The engineers and surveyors after their day's toil generally ate supper and put up overnight at

convenient taverns, of which there were many along the line (one can imagine the nosy inn

keepers, who liked to keep abreast of everything, quizzing them for news of their progress), while

the weary workmen repaired to cheap boarding houses or temporary hovels erected beside the

right-of-way.

McNeill decided that with one or two exceptions, no curve would be sharper than 6000-foot

radius (just under 1 degree[54]), though a right-hand curve of 1900-foot radius (3 degrees) would

be needed leading to the proposed depot in Boston. Over the 41-mile line 47 changes of grade

occurred; 22 sections were flat and 25 had grades of 4.5 to 37.5 feet to the mile (0.08 to 0.71

percent) – in the nomenclature of the time the engineers styled these gradients, even the level

stretches, "planes." "Plane 1" began at the Boston depot and there were to be 16 planes just

between Boston and Canton. A numbered marker was set beside the track at the beginning of each

plane[55] to help locomotive engineers know where and how to adjust their throttles--more steam

for upgrade, less or none for down. Maximum grades were to be held to 25 feet to the mile (0.47

62

percent) northward from Foxborough to the top of Sharon hill and 37.5 feet per mile or 1 in 141

(0.71 percent) from Canton southward to Sharon. McNeill, working with 19th century leveling

instruments and methods, found the maximum elevation at Sharon (now Sharon Heights) to be

256 feet above sea level;[56] a 20th century New Haven Railroad profile calls it 269.[57] Perhaps

the sea level has changed.

Despite repeated efforts later in the 19th century to shorten the steep climb by shaving off the

sandy top of Sharon hill,[58] the curves and gradients between Boston and Providence have

remained essentially unchanged since the 1830s; the hill still has a southward[59] ruling grade of

0.71 percent. In the 22.39 miles from the "point of tangency" at the south end of the curve

(Amtrak milepost 227.75) just outside the present Back Bay Station to the point of tangency

ending the final bend at East Foxboro (milepost 205.36) there are now 16 curves totaling 4.67

miles in length; thus 20.9 percent of the track within that distance is curved. These bends,

however, are gentle, ranging from only 5 minutes to 1 degree 5 minutes. All eight curves between

Readville and Foxborough are of exactly 1 degree, having a generous radius of 5730 feet (1.09

mile).[60] Nevertheless, the curviness of this section of the railroad, although not obvious to the

newspaper-reading commuter, is surprisingly evident to one riding in a locomotive cab.

From the southeast corner of the town of Foxborough southward through Mansfield and

Attleborough to the present village of Rumford, Rhode Island (then a part of Seekonk), building

the right-of-way was a piece of cake. Through the patchwork farm fields and swampy woods of

that bland, gently down-sloping countryside the surveyed route ran dead straight – what railroad

men later, in those days before the Wright brothers, came to call an "air line" – for 16.09 miles,

with minimum cuttings. It was and still is the longest railroad tangent in Massachusetts, though

only 10.69 miles of it are still used as "main line." Thanks to the foresight of McNeill and the

railroad's directors, this tangent track is one of the two stretches between Boston and Washington

where Amtrak's Acela trains are allowed, for a scant 10-mile distance, to hit 150 miles per hour.

One might wonder why Boston and Providence, having the intention eventually to terminate in

the latter city, instead of aiming its track at Seekonk didn't build directly toward the Rhode Island

capital in the first place, as they did anyway in 1848 by means of a dogleg from East Junction in

Hebronville (part of Attleborough) to Boston Switch (at first called West Junction) in Central Falls

and thence through Pawtucket to Providence. The line would have been shorter and might have

avoided the worst of Sharon Hill and the building of the viaduct.

But after poring over the United States Geological Survey's excellent topographic quadrangle

maps, something McNeill would've pawned his eye-teeth to possess, I not only gained a greater

63

appreciation of the difficulties of McNeill's field survey, but became convinced that his layout

could not be much bettered, if at all. A straight line drawn from Readville to Boston Switch leads

over Moose Hill, a virtually impassable obstacle. In fact I could discover no other reasonably

direct route over what geologists call the Sharon Upland with a grade of under 1.50%, compared

to McNeill's actual ruling grade of less than half that. The only possible improvement might have

been to swing the line westward from East Foxborough directly to the site of Boston Switch, thus

avoiding not only the necessity of the 1848 dogleg but sidestepping a pair of nasty little problems

relating to the historic Attleborough cemetery and a seemingly bottomless Mansfield bog. But this

routing would have meant a major bridge over the Blackstone River, and at the time one costly

bridge – the Canton viaduct – was quite enough.

* * *

Joseph Warren Revere's wishes created a formidable engineering problem for McNeill and his

assistants. But another group of men thought they saw an opportunity in the 41 miles of cleared

line through woods, swamps and farms. They proposed building what was called a telephore or

optical telegraph. This was a method devised in France by Claude Chappe in 1794 of sending

visual messages between Paris and important military posts by means of movable wooden

crossarms, somewhat similar to the later railroad semaphores, mounted on a series of towers or

poles erected five to ten miles apart. By varying the positions of the arms the four or five operators

could signal number-codes (there were 256 possible combinations, though only 92 were used)[61]

to be picked up by a relay station within visual range and then passed on to the next station. The

navy (and formerly Boy Scout) method of sending wigwag signals by use of hand-held flags is a

simple adaptation of the principle.

By 1836 France would have a working 3000-mile "visual telegraph" network by which they

could transmit messages at the respectable rate of 20 characters a minute over distances as great as

500 miles in one day, although fog sometimes closed down the operation, and it was useless at

night. An obvious weak link was the use of a human operator in each tower, who had to receive

the messages, perhaps by peering through a telescope, interpret and then relay them, hopefully

without error, to the next operator, who repeated the process.

The system already had found practical use in New England. In 1799 Jonathan Grout of

Belchertown, Massachusetts, invented a similar system of semaphore signals and in 1800 put it

into being between Edgartown on the island of Martha's Vineyard and Boston, 90 miles, over

which distance visual messages were transmitted via relay stations in only five to ten minutes.

Why Grout's system did not continue in use I do not know – perhaps because of fog and rain

64

that bedeviled the New England coast. But when the backers of the plan to use the Boston and

Providence right-of-way for their telephore learned of the considerable cost of constructing and

operating the system – in France, Chappe‟s telephore had been found so expensive on a per-word

basis that only the government could afford the cost --, they became discouraged, as had the earlier

backers of the horse railway; and eventually the news that Samuel Finley Breese Morse had

perfected the telegraph (first working model 1836, first actual use 1844) caused them to give up

the whole idea.[62]

NOTES

1. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) says Boston & Providence in 1834 was officially styled "The Boston and

Providence Rail-Road Corporation" but acknowledges that railroad nomenclature was far from consistent. The

separated syllables, hyphenated or not, as in "Rail-Road" or "Rail Road," were used throughout much of B&P's

corporate existence. Galvin (1987: 3) portrays a B&P stock certificate of 1838 on which the style "Rail Road" appears,

and I own (courtesy of H. E. Phelps) a B&P stock certificate dated 12 Aug. 1891 bearing the words "Rail Road;" the

latter is identical in printed format to certificates issued in 1875. As pointed out by Levitt (intro. NHRAA 1940-

52/2002: 2) "Rail Road" or "Rail-Road" generally evolved into "Railroad." The expression "railed road" sometimes

was used unofficially by the public, though not necessarily in reference to the B&P.

In Britain in the 1830s "railroad" and "rail-road" apparently were generic terms while "Railway" was used as the

name of an undertaking (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2003).

2. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 255-7), using statistics of the New York & Harlem R. R., shows that steam power was

both cheaper and faster than horses.

3. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3.

4. "Incorporation" in the present legal sense of the formation of a group having limited liability did not emerge

in England or the U. S. until mid-19th century. The early railroads were incorporated as a group of individuals seeking

legal sanction and approval to build a railroad. The group petitioned the legislature of their state to grant that

permission and the legislature passed a Special Act entitling them to compulsory land purchase, issuance of stock,

exemption from personal liability and immunity from certain local regulations. The powers authorized by a Special

Act were embodied in a charter (Levitt intro. NHRAA 1940-52: 4).

5. Although "Corporation" appears to be correct, "Company" was used on the railroad‟s printed documents (NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3, 9).

6. Appleton 1871: 2; Copeland 1930a; Harlow 1946: 78; A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. All Tickets Forum 2002;

NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3. This bill and the Boston & Worcester act of incorporation the following day were signed by

Leverett Saltonstall, president of the house and ancestor of a later Mass. governor.

7. Harlow 1946: 78.

8. Bayles 1891; C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 33; Copeland 1936-56: 59; Barrett 1996: 89. That part of Seekonk

where Boston & Providence temporarily ended is now in East Providence, R. I., and Mass. no longer borders on the

65

Seekonk River across from Providence. This change, which has confused railroad and other historians ever since, was

brought about on 1 March 1862 by a decree of the U. S. Supreme Court, which ordered the boundary between the two

states to be moved about two miles eastward from the center line of the river, creating the new R. I. town of East

Providence at the expense of a part of the Mass. town of Seekonk. A section of the town of Pawtucket shifted states

from Mass. to R. I. at the same time (Mass. Topo. Survey 1900, in Van Zandt 1966: 101). Harlow (1946: 105) is one

of those who incorrectly puts India Point across the Seekonk River from Providence. The inclusion of Pawtucket as a

possible terminus is interesting, because eventually (but not until 1848) that is where the B&P went.

India Point in Providence was so named from the "Indiamen" trading ships that sailed between nearby Fox Point,

with its many wharves once the major seaport for Providence, and the West Indies.

In June 1831 the Massachusetts house of representatives established the Boston and Taunton Rail Road

Corporation, but this contemplated railway vanished into thin air without ever having driven a spike.

9. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3. Here we see the Balkanization of which the various states (which a half century

after their independence still continued to think and act like separate republics) made themselves victims. Levitt (ed.

NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 4) points out that the grant of incorporation authorized by a state legislature applied only

within that state. Thus Boston & Providence found it necessary to seek a Special Act from the R. I. General Assembly

before they could lay track across the wild frontier. Ulysses S. Grant recognized this condition when he wrote, “In the early days of the country, before we had railroads, telegraphs and steamboats . . . the States were each almost a

separate nationality” (Personal memoirs, 1885).

The Mass. charter issued to the B&P Rail Road Corporation was a legislative grant creating and defining a

franchise; in effect, a three-way contract between the state, the railroad and the railroad's stockholders. It was given to

B&P because the U. S. Congress felt that railroads and canals should be state-owned and operated or at least

controlled by the states. Mass. Railroad Law in force at the time provided that after a railroad had been open 20 years

the state was entitled to purchase it at a fair price including 10 percent annual net interest. This provision was never

acted upon and evidently was repealed. In Mass., beginning with the Granite Ry in 1826, a special act of the

legislature was required to charter a railroad. Unfortunately this led to wasted legislative time and favoritism, because

whenever an already chartered railroad wanted to extend or relocate its trackage or build a branch line, new

legislation was required (see Humphrey and Clark 1986: 1).

10. Appleton 1871: 2; Burrows 1980; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 5, 21; Barrett 1996: 121.

11. FWP-Mass. 1937: xxix. The same puritans had opposed stagecoaches when they first appeared on the streets,

perhaps out of a Calvinistic prejudice against physical comfort. So much criticism was hurled at the Western R. R.

during its construction from Worcester to Springfield in 1837 that the corporation sent a letter to every church in the

state requesting that "sermons be preached on the beneficial moral effect of railroads." Separation of church and state

was a relatively new idea in Mass. which unlike free-thinking R. I. had operated since its founding as a near theocracy,

with religious tests for office holders until 1820 and taxpayer support (done away with by constitutional amendment in

1833) of the Congregational church and its ministers.

12. Railroad America 1927. I witnessed an example of how livestock could be terrified by the locomotive. Riding

behind a steam engine over a line where for years only diesels had been used, I saw horses galloping in fright to the

far end of their pastures as we passed. No doubt after a few experiences of this kind, 19th century horses learned to

accept the steam engine as a noisy but harmless beast that minded its own business and stuck to its traveled way..

13. Harlow 1948: 107.

66

14. Salisbury 1967: 89 in Yamaji 1998.

15. Harlow 1948: 107. In present-day Europe the exclusive franchise model is considered a monopoly (Posner

2001: 42).

16. Westbrook 1982: 181; Yamaji 1998.

17. A. M. Levitt observes (pers. comm. 2006) that “eliminating the voyage around Cape Cod enabled a significant budget savings on barf bags.” I second this idea, based on my experience aboard a Providencetown-to-Boston steamer

18. Dorchester Atheneum 2005. It is hard to exaggerate the importance of the New York steamboat connections to

the Boston & Providence R. R., or of the railroad to the boat lines, an importance that in my early research, being

railroad-oriented, I tended to slight. A significant monograph could and should be written examining this intermodal

connection from a 180-degree orientation, that is, from the point of view of the steamers.

A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2005) suggests another possible reason behind the conception of the Boston &

Providence: that “consideration was given to immigrants arriving in Boston who were actually bound for New York City, and vice versa.” At the time Boston and New York were major ports of debarkation for trans-Atlantic

immigrants. An overland intercity exchange would circumvent the Massachusetts and New York state laws in effect

c1800 to 1849 that placed restrictions on immigration.

19. Vanderbilt (1794-1877), informally styled “commodore” for his growing steamboat holdings, liked to wear full

naval uniform while aboard one of his vessels, reminding one of Germany‟s Kaiser Wilhelm, who donned an admiral‟s uniform when visiting the Berlin aquarium.

20. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 266-7; Dorchester Atheneum 2005. The early New England railroads had more in

common with modern railways in Europe than with those presently operating in the U. S. in that they were short-

distance lines oriented toward passenger service; and in the case of Boston & Providence, unlike the other railroads

radiating out of Boston, had to confront almost as formidable a barrier to successful operation as a European national

border--the Mass.-R. I. state line! (See Posner 2001: 42-45.)

21. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3.

22. Harlow 1946: 105. See op. cit. after p. 274 for portrait of Wales, who by 1841 was also president and treasurer

of Western Rail Road Corp. Jackson was a prominent industrialist and businessman who with his brother-in-law

Francis Cabot Lowell (a family connection hard to beat in Boston) founded a pioneer cotton cloth factory in Waltham,

Mass..

23. Appletons Encyc. 1886. More than 20 West Point graduates became railroad presidents and upward of 50,

including McNeill, Whistler and Trimble, became chief engineers of railroads.

24. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 322.

25. See Appendix I for biographical sketches of Lee and Trimble.

26. The reference to Capron is from Belcher 1938: no. 2. His middle name may have been spelled "Williard," to

judge by the gravestone of some of his presumed descendants in Mansfield's Spring Brook Cemetery. Of him I know

nothing; he is not mentioned in Daggett's 1834 history of Attleborough, though the name was common in the town. L.

M. E. Stone later worked at building the Western R. R. After 1855 he became the second sup't of the Providence,

Warren & Bristol R. R. which in 1884 named a locomotive for him. He also surveyed the Providence & Springfield

(which opened in 1873) from Providence to Pascoag, R. I., and went on to be its first sup't (Jacobs 1926). Stone

departed from railroad engineering when he combined Greek Revival and Italianate styles in his design of the original

North Providence town hall, built in 1879. Cunningham later became a foreman on the Boston & Providence under

67

Isaiah Hoyt (Bayles 1891: 164).

27. Canton Hist. Soc., undated.

28. Galvin 1987: 2.

29. Harding and Bode 1958-74: 117. The tripod-mounted theodolite with its telescope would now be called a

transit; it was used for measuring horizontal and vertical angles. Some of the untutored immigrants were not as helpful

as they might have been. Thoreau, who worked, when he worked, as a land surveyor, and hired Irishmen to carry the

rod, hold the other end of the chain, clear brush and drive stakes, on 12 Dec. 1851 groused to his Journal, "These

Irishmen have no heads. Let me inquire strictly into a man's descent, and if his remotest ancestors were Erse, let me

not have him to help me survey." He noted that most did not know how to chop a tree by changing hands but would

walk around it, cutting it from all sides. Later, in a kind of sea-turn that is gratifying to see, Thoreau took a kinder

attitude toward these immigrants and not only defended them from being victimized by avaricious Yankee employers

but helped a number of them to bring their families over from the Old Sod, writing letters for those who were

illiterate.

When I worked for some years in a survey party we were instructed not to “sing,” holler or yell, which was the mark of the tyro, but to communicate quietly by means of hand signals. Now, hand-held radio does the job.

30. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 322; Harlow 1946: 105; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: 3; Diamond 1986: 5; Carr 2001 (her

date of 1834 for the Boston & Providence charter application is incorrect). The total mileage divided by the number of

routes gives an average of 73 miles per route, a figure of which I am suspicious, as Boston and Seekonk were only 41

miles apart.

31. DeLue 1925: 235-6; Belcher 1938; Dix 1973; Diamond 1986: 5.

32. Hayward 1828.

33. Copeland 1930a.

34. Galvin 1987: 2.

35. One of my great regrets is that I have been unable either to study or to afford to buy one of the copies of this

report that now and then appears in the hands of rare book dealers. Thomson (1942) records 16 copies in libraries in

the U. S., including seven in Boston (or nearby) institutions (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2006).

36. Belcher 1938: no. 2.

37. Dorchester Atheneum 2005.

38. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 323) errs in including Walpole and forgets Mansfield and Attleborough.

39. Hodges 1956. As a result, Foxborough Center didn‟t get a railroad for more than 40 years. 40. Copeland 1936-56: 59.

41. Mansfield News 2 Jan. 1873.

42. Holman 1931: 41.

43. Shuttles and spindles were used in the textile industry, the former to guide the thread in weaving, the latter to

hold bobbins in the spinning frame.

44. The information on Col. Hatch is drawn from Dix 1966 and Moxham 2000. Hatch's hotel was built in 1806 on

the site of the John Woodcock garrison, next door to the c1720 building still standing and known as Woodcock

Garrison House. The hotel was torn down after a fire in 1893 destroyed the roof. Those who protested the railroad's

fondness for tangent lines apparently had forgotten the turnpike corporation's similar mania that led it to ignore towns

and climb hills impracticable for loaded wagons.

68

45. De Lue 1925: 235-6.

46. Fowl Meadow was so named because of a superior kind of grass called fowl meadow grass, used as feed for

sheep and cattle, alleged to have been brought to the Neponset River marshes prior to 1710 from an unknown source

by a large flock of wildfowl. Neponset River where it winds through Fowl Meadow falls only one foot in eight miles.

47. Mileages in 1835 from the Boston terminus to the stations along the line to Seekonk differ from 1.10 to 1.17

mile, averaging 1.13 mile, from the mileages from Boston South Station to present Amtrak or MBTA depots, which,

allowing for the probability that some of the local stations were relocated during the intervening 170 years, suggests

that the 1835 Boston & Providence terminal depot at Pleasant Street was located 1.13 mile south (or west) of today's

South Station; we know it was near present Back Bay station. Amtrak's mileage for South Station is 229.09 (miles

from Grand Central Terminal, New York); Back Bay is 227.81.

48. Diamond 1986: 5-6; Cook 1987: 19-21; Galvin 1987: 2; Carr 2001; Canton (Mass.) Hist. Soc., undated. Paul

Revere commenced his copper business in Boston in 1788 (Kaye 1976: 69-70). The large copper works at Canton

used waterpower from the East Branch of Neponset River to operate the first rolling mill for copper sheeting in New

England. This mill produced the sheets that covered the dome of Bulfinch's new State House and in 1802 sheathed the

hull of the U. S. S. Constitution (Carr 2001, who says, "Many local historians agree that the Reveres and their copper

company were instrumental in bringing a railroad line through Canton."). Revere also made the copper boiler for

Robert Fulton's first steamboat.

49. Chute 1966: plate 2. Possibly another reason for abandonment of this supposed line was that it crossed a peat

bog up to 28 feet deep (Chute 1966: B63).

50. Date inscribed on reverse of stone. This date is 19 months after the memorable fatal runaway on the Granite

Ry‟s inclined plane. 51. Canton Hist. Soc., undated. Norwood was not incorporated as a separate town until 1872.

52. Laborers in those days wore uncomfortably heavy summer work apparel, for instance flannel shirts and

corduroy pants. Thoreau in his Journal tells of several instances where railroad workmen or other laborers fainted, one

man dying from heat prostration; the track men sometimes were allowed to work at night because of high daytime

temperatures.

53. Sometimes ice could be turned to advantage. Sheldon (1862/1988: 102) tells of driving a horse and sleigh

across the frozen meadows while "looking out a location for Salem and Lowell Railroad." Often surveying was easier

in winter. I remember measuring a quarter-mile line across a frozen bog with no concern about it being dead level,

using a chaining pin to scratch marks on the ice to show the rear chainman where to set the zero point of the 100-foot

tape. We could not have run this line in any other season. Surveying through woods is best done after the leaves fall in

late October and before they sprout again in April, visibility then being at its maximum; though Mass. was not nearly

as wooded in the 1830s as now.

54. As practiced in the U. S., the degree of a curve is the angle between two radial lines drawn from the center of

the circle of which the curve is a part to two points on the circumference (the center of the curving track) 100 feet

apart in a straight line (chord). This differs from the British practice of measuring curves by the length of their radius,

practical on paper but not on the ground.

55. Boston & Providence R. R. Feb.-Mar. 1835, a steaming test. It is obvious that the official who wrote this test

report while riding a moving engine was able to observe numbered signs or posts along the right-of-way that informed

him of changes in gradient. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) observes that "it appears that Plane markers were not

69

unlike the gradient posts in British practice. Gordon Biddle notes (The Oxford companion to British railway history)

that 'They indicated changes in gradient on an arm on each side of the post, varying in precision from company to

company. Some [roads] meticulously recorded even the slightest change. At least one post between Bewsbury and

Bradford on the Great Northern Railway showed the gradient to three decimal places.'" McNeill may have observed

this practice while in England.

The word "plane" was not used in this instance in the sense of "inclined plane" as on the Granite Ry, because the

B&P planes were not necessarily inclined, but might be level.

56. Grade profile and curvature figures from Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323, 366-7.

57. NYNH&H R. R. 10 Sep. 1941.

58. Evidence of my grandfather, Charles Elwin Chase, Old Colony R. R. yardmaster at Mansfield c1883-1889,

and my father Harry B. Chase, Sr.

59. "Inveterate cavillers" (as Thoreau called them) will call my attention to the fact that the New York, New

Haven & Hartford and the Penn Central railroads as well as Conrail, CSX and Amtrak for operating purposes have

long considered the track between Boston and Providence – in fact, between Boston and Philadelphia – to lie "east and

west." The actual geographical direction of the Boston & Providence is quite close to north and south, and it was so

considered officially by the railroad itself during the 19th century. Because this history deals with the 19th century

railroad, and the "east-west" directions are confusing to the average reader who, though he may be non-railroad

oriented, is (I trust) familiar with the regional geography, I have stuck with the "incorrect" north and south orientation.

60. NHNH&H R. R. 12 Dec. 1928, 10 Sep. 1941.

61. A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2003. That Chappe's device was used to transmit "words" does not find basis.

62. Belcher 1938; Wilkie and Tager, eds., 1991: 124; Holzmann and Pehrson 1994. Chappe (1763-1805), a

clergyman turned physicist, had given up trying to send signals by wire, otherwise he might have beaten Morse to the

invention of the magnetic telegraph! The optical telegraph devised by Chappe and his brother Ignace subsequently

was installed in many European countries. Chappe's success with the telephore (he called it the telegraphe) inspired

imitators, one of the first being a Swedish nobleman, Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz, who employed a grid of swinging

panels. For such a system to be commercially viable the transmissions could not be too fast (individual letters could

not be read at the receiving end) nor too slow (the revenue from messages would not support the undertaking). The

British Admiralty employed a semaphore system in 1822, and the Rothschild family used the vanes of a windmill to

carry their messages across the English Channel to an observer with a telescope on the Cliffs of Dover (A. M. Levitt,

pers. comms. 1999, 2002). The possibility of operator error is obvious to anyone who has seen a line of Boy Scouts or

school children relay a whispered message from end to end; the story coming from the last in line is often hardly

recognizable as the one that was whispered in the ear of the first.

During the Paris revolution of June 1832 the overthrown government, on leaving that city, had the line of

semaphores broken so that the change should not be known in the country.

70

4 – Sleepers, rails and kilometer posts

From colonial days, quirky little Rhode Island frequently has been reluctant (ofttimes for good

reason) to cooperate with its stuffy neighbor the Bay State, and railroad affairs were and still are

no exception to the rule, which is why many of the present Boston commuter trains terminate short

of the state line in South Attleboro. Just when construction of the Boston and Providence was

ready to begin in earnest the investors were given notice by their neighbors south of the border

that despite the granting on 11 July 1831 of a charter to the long-winded Boston and Providence

Rail Road and Transportation Corporation permitting extension of the former road into Rhode

Island, the track now would not be allowed to cross the frontier. It appears that the Rhode

Islanders had become quite properly uneasy about the stability of the Massachusetts corporation.

These jitters were born in 1832 when, as a result of many of the original stock subscribers not

having promptly paid the assessments levied on them, money for constructing the railroad was not

to be found, and the Boston and Providence franchise had to be sold at auction. Besides this

unnerving worry, the Ocean Staters were understandably more interested in the success of the

Blackstone Canal and perhaps also foresaw that the railroad's aim, based on colonial precedent,

was to make their state capital a mere way station on the Boston to New York route.[1]

This stoppage meant that at least in the near future, the track of the so-yclept Boston and

Providence Rail Road Corporation would not enter Providence or Rhode Island but would end

abruptly at the state line. The Boston and Providence had become, temporarily, the Boston and

Seekonk.

Seekonk was founded as a town in 1812. Depending on whom one listened to, its name was the

Indian word for "cry of the wild goose" or, less romantically, "skunk." Whichever, it was deemed

"offensively uneuphonious" by some of its more picky inhabitants. Euphonious or not, the

riverside village, by default and through no particular efforts of its own, was to become the ad hoc

terminal of an important railway line. As long as this arrangement prevailed, the "beauteous

women" of dusty Providence along with its other less favored residents would be forced to bus

across the Seekonk River highway bridge into Massachusetts before they could set their feet on

the steps of a Boston-bound railway coach.

Disregarding for the time being this Balkan sort of problem, work gangs were contracted for,

and, new funds having been made available, serious construction commenced in late 1832[2] from

both the Boston and Seekonk ends of the line, working towards one another and towards the

ominous gap that awaited at Canton. In fact, construction now proceeded apace on all three

71

railway spokes radiating out of The Hub, the other two being the Boston and Worcester and the

Boston and Lowell.

Such work requires large gobs of ready cash, and the Boston and Providence already having

made itself unpopular in many of the towns through which it was to pass, not to mention North

Attleborough, Walpole and Dedham through which it chose not to pass, a great deal of influential

opposition to the road had materialized. Many local governments in Massachusetts opted not to

financially support construction.[3] Some of the contractors engaged in the project would have

been forced to dismiss their labor gangs and quit work had they not received monetary advances

from the cashier of Dedham Bank, Ebenezer Fisher, Jr., who personally knew that the railroad's

incorporators and directors were men of substantial character and probity and that their civil

engineers were competent.[4] The result was that the railroad's incorporators were now ready to

spend $400,000 to build the line. (Setting a standard that would persist until Boston's "Big Dig"

and probably longer, the actual cost of construction was to amount to nearly five times that

figure!)

Almost immediately, construction began on a raised embankment across the sometimes

odoriferous tidal mud flats now known as Back Bay. Part way along its length, at about the present

site of Back Bay station, the new fill crossed the similar embankment of the Boston and Worcester

Rail Road, also under construction. Not every Proper Bostonian was happy about the barriers of

these long intersecting causeways which greatly impeded the cleansing action of normal tidewater

flow.[5]

The Boston half of the planned railroad, with its three formidable obstacles of Sharon hill and

the Canton rock ridge and valley, faced McNeill with far greater difficulties than the relatively flat

Seekonk-Mansfield end. Boston and Seekonk lay close to sea level. Nearly halfway between

reared 269-foot Sharon hill. Four miles north of this summit lay the steep-sloped vale of Canton

River, with an elevation of only about 65 feet. And just north of that in turn awaited the bedrock

obstacle that would have to be blasted through.

Sharon was to prove the lesser of the difficulties. Though it was preferable for a railroad to be

gradeless, a climb of 0.71 percent is far from insurmountable. Most lines try to keep their grades

to a maximum of one or two percent. Four percent is steep and rare. The southbound ascent

toward Sharon really began 1.7 mile north of Canton and continued, with an interruption at the

Canton River, for over seven miles to the summit, following for about 2-1/2 miles the slight

depression of Beaver Brook between Canton and Sharon. (Without his knowing it, McNeill's

survey from near Boston over Sharon summit to Foxborough, a distance of 20 miles, traced the

72

surficial crease of what geologists now call the Stony Brook Fault, a long-inactive fracture in the

bedrock.) From the heights at Sharon the roadbed would descend on a gentler grade to Mansfield.

The cleft at Canton posed a more serious problem. On this route, chosen to placate Joseph

Warren Revere, the river valley was at first considered too deep and wide to be bridged, and as we

have said, the intent of the Boston and Providence directors was to build an inclined plane on

either side, like the Granite Railway twinned, on which cars would be lowered and then raised by

ropes attached not to horses but to winding drums attached to stationary steam engines, similar to

the practice observed in 1825 by the Stockton and Darlington Railway in crossing the valley of the

River Gaunless in England.[6]

It was just as well that the directors' attention was drawn to the Granite Railway, because their

awareness of the fatal runaway on that road's inclined plane[7] on 25 July 1832 caused them to

change their plans, which anyway would have made for an unwieldy, inconvenient and time-

consuming operation. Before construction of the inclined planes could be started, the directors

decided to slightly alter the course of the railroad (toward the direction of Revere's copper works,

of course) and to erect a costly bridge spanning the valley. The result was the Canton viaduct, one

of the oldest large stone bridges in the United States, familiar to any watchful passenger who has

ever ridden a train between Boston and Providence.[8]

But before iron rails could be spiked down and connected end to end across the Massachusetts

countryside, the earthwork had to be completed – the cuts and fills, which, as a distinguished

engineer reminds us, must "alternate in such a way that earth from the former could always be

used for the latter."[9] The upper width of the roadbed embankment was 26 feet, foresightedly laid

out for double track, though only one track was to be put down at first.

Now, as the southward-reaching roadbed emerged from the pancake-flat raceway across Fowl

Meadow, McNeill and his men were about to demonstrate to observant citizens an important way

in which rail routes differed from those used by horse-drawn vehicles and canal boats. Highway

and inland waterway vehicles of the time had to adapt pretty much to what nature offered them in

the way of topographical ups and downs. Roads either detoured around the hills or climbed over

them; canals depended on stair-like locks to gain or lose elevation. Not so the railroads, which, by

using cuts and fills of a magnitude previously unseen, eased and shortened their travel by altering

the terrain to suit, giving passengers the illusion that their train, while it moved along on a

relatively constant level, "appeared sometimes to sink below the surface of the earth and

sometimes to rise above it."[10]

73

In general, fills are cheaper than cuts, both to construct and to maintain, though as previously

noted, engineers try to equalize them more or less. This equalization is done now by computer, but

in McNeill's time and for long afterward it was an eyeball process: after the engineer plotted the

undulating vertical profile of the natural ground surface on a sheet of graph paper, he adjusted a

thread in a straight line along the section and when the balance between the volumes of cut and fill

looked equal, he drew a line along the thread representing his final grade.

Many long, deep cuts were dug on the Boston and Providence line, in places through solid

rock.[11] To McNeill and his Irishmen, the Fowl Meadow levels had been as a calm sea to sailors.

Now, however, because of the "Revere" rerouting through Canton, almost immediately on

departing the Meadow they ran bowsprit-on into a choppy series of bedrock waves. The first came

a mile and a half north of Canton, in the form of more than 400 horizontal feet of upended red

shale and sandstone and gray conglomerate through which they had to blast their way in the style

of Jawn Henry, with hand drills, hammers and smoky black powder. Three quarters of a mile

farther south they butted against the second wave, necessitating a cut through fossiliferous gray

sandstone and conglomerate. And finally, two-tenths of a mile short of the proposed Canton depot,

they struck by far the nastiest billow of all: more than 600 feet of faulted, fractured and granulated

Dedham granite through which an opening deeper than the height of a train had to be blasted,

leaving vertical cliffs of jagged rock still visible on either side of the right-of-way.[12]

If the few cuts were deep and sometimes difficult, there were compensating fills aplenty. For a

distance of 2.94 miles, from one-third of a mile south of Sprague's Pond in Readville to a point

1.62 mile north of Canton station (Amtrak mileposts 218.68 to 215.74), a continuous filled

causeway extends across Fowl Meadow. These Neponset River marshes, though extensive,

fortunately are only a few feet deep – certainly not much of an obstacle compared to the 40-foot-

deep bog that was to surprise McNeill and his workmen down in Mansfield – but they consumed

their share of rock, rubble and dirt. Approaching Sharon from the north, four separate fills along

Beaver Brook total 1.28 mile in length.

The flank slopes of these piled earthworks were proportioned one unit vertically to one and a

half horizontally (this made a lateral angle from the level of 34 degrees, but one to one-and-a-half

was an easy rule of thumb for the field engineer to work with), "and as a rule embankments were

made about one-tenth higher than required by the elevation drawings to allow for future

settling."[13]

Down in uneuphonious Seekonk, by contrast, relatively little excavating had to be done. Here

the grade varied from practically level to a fairly gentle 0.43 percent. Starting 0.45 mile north of

74

the present Pine Street in that town (4.67 miles south of the proposed Attleborough station)

McNeill's men had to drive a shallow cut through 540 feet of sandstone, mudstone and

fossiliferous shale with thin beds of conglomerate.[14] The material removed from this cut was

carted away to fill a low area 600 to 1100 feet to the south.

Teaming this "spoil" could be done with horses or oxen. Oxen were slower but because of their

weight could pull heavier loads and under certain conditions were preferred; one 19th century

railroad contractor told the engineer for whom he worked that when the job was finished, oxen

could be driven to a slaughterhouse and "sold at a fair price, while horses would eat out half their

bodies before we could make sale of them" and "it does not cost so much to harness twelve oxen

as it does one horse."[15] If temporary rails or continuous planks were laid on the right-of-way a

horse normally could haul a train of four or five small wagons each loaded with a cubic yard of

earth, but on an unimproved surface could draw only a single two-wheeled cart holding one half

cubic yard.[16]

To handle shoeing the animals, mending of chains and repairing and sharpening drills, picks and

spades, temporary blacksmith shops were set up along the way. In these, by "keeping shoes on

hand an ox would be kept in the cage but a very few minutes, and of course save time."[17]

Once the earthwork was done and the roadbed established from end to end, track-laying could

begin, and here McNeill put some good ideas to work. One of the simplest and best was wooden

crossties. In England, where timber was scarce and costly, rails at first were laid atop stone blocks

embedded solidly in the earth.[18] This seemingly desirable concept was transplanted to the

States; for example, on the Boston and Lowell, as on the Granite Railway. When frost heaved this

rigid structure and threw the track out of gauge and lateral and horizontal alignment, the stone ties

and blocks were relaid on a trench filled with packed sand and gravel.[19] This method of

construction, using granite underpinnings, sounds solid and everlastingly indestructible. An

untreated wooden crosstie might last five or six years; stone ties, though their first cost was

greater, would endure until Gabriel blew his horn.

But McNeill, though he gave a thought to using stone sleepers, apparently saw what later

railroad civil engineers and track crews have learned: that a rigid track structure beats the dickens

out of engines, rolling stock, wheels, bearings and rails, and makes for greater maintenance costs

and a hard, jolting ride uncomfortable to train crewmen and passengers alike. A slightly flexible,

resilient, cushiony and yielding track is in most ways to be desired.[20] Besides, the unballasted

granite underpinnings shifted when rain softened the ground and cracked in freezing weather,

again making it difficult to keep the track level and aligned.

75

So McNeill decreed wooden crossties – not chestnut, as some historians claim, though chestnut

much later would be used for ties on the Boston and Providence, but northern white cedar (Thuja

occidentalis), sawed 8 feet long (8 feet is still one of several standard tie lengths), 6 to 6-1/2

inches wide and 5-1/2 to 6 inches thick, adzed flat on the top and bottom and left rounded in the

natural shape of the log on the sides, and laid 3 feet apart.[21]

White cedar also sounds expensive, but in the 1830s it was cheap and easily available. The ties

were brought by the shipload from Maine swamps and delivered on site for 26 cents apiece. By

using cedar instead of granite ties, the cost of building the Boston and Providence was lessened by

$3443 per mile, or more than $140,000 for the whole route,[22] and provided an easier-riding

roadbed to boot.

Thanks to McNeill's money-saving work, the Boston and Providence, if not for Canton viaduct

and the seemingly bottomless bog in Mansfield into which the track and with it the railroad's first

steam locomotive sank from sight, would have cost less per mile than either of the other two roads

then under construction in Massachusetts.[23]

The Boston and Providence appears to have been one of the very few major railroads in the

United States at that time, if not the only one, where the crossties were laid on the bare sand or

gravel roadbed (somewhat as is done now, except that crushed rock is used instead of sand) and

only rarely on underlying longitudinal plank stringers. Whether this was an effort to save money is

not clear, but to some degree it backfired. Though the roadbed foundation was good, when the first

locomotives began to be used, the ties tended to sag under their weight so that the spikes worked

loose.[24] This was partly the fault of the wood chosen for the ties, white cedar being notorious

for poor spike-holding properties.

As to the rails that were fastened atop the ties, again contrary to the belief of some who have

written about the Boston and Providence,[25] the line did not use iron straps that were apt to pull

loose at the ends from their wooden stringers, curl up and rise like striking rattlesnakes to derail

engines or even pierce the floors of cars and sometimes the legs and bodies of hapless passengers

("snake-heads," such social-climbing rails were called).

The rails of the Boston and Providence, imported from England[26] because even when shipped

across the Atlantic they were still cheaper than rails of domestic iron, were of what was called the

"H" form, in reality shaped in cross section like an inverted "T," not unlike our modern rails but

76

smaller[27] and made of wrought iron for its quality rather than the previously-favored high-

carbon cast iron, which sometimes snapped when the first train passed over it. (Steel rails were

decades in the future.[28]) Based on a design by William Raymond Lee, these rails were rolled 4

inches wide at the base, 3-1/2 inches high, 2-1/4 inches across the head, were 15 feet long and

weighed 55 pounds to the yard;[29] thus a rail could be handled easily by four stalwart workmen.

It was agreed that these were the best of their kind then available. Lee‟s English rails gave good service, and remained in mainline use on Boston and Providence for more than a quarter century.

Because it was anticipated that the first locomotives also would be imported from England, the

country of their invention, the track was laid according to the English standard gauge of four feet

eight-and-a-half inches between railheads,[30] but directly on the ties without metal chairs or tie

plates beneath them, although flat 10-pound iron "chairs" resembling modern tie plates[31] were

placed under the rail joints to help keep them aligned. The butt ends of the rails, which were cut

off square,[32] were notched into the chairs to prevent longitudinal creep; but lacking rail anchors

such as are used to hold modern track in place the rails tended to creep anyway, so that several

successive rail joints might become butted tightly together followed by a 1/4 to 1/2-inch gap[33]

that caused a resounding thump when the wheels of a car or locomotive passed over it and was

guaranteed to drive the north end of a passenger's or engineman's spinal column up into his hat

Among the many advantages of the "H" or inverted "T" rail with its broad base supported by

wooden crossties as opposed to strap rails fastened down atop longitudinal timbers was that the

rail's flat base could easily be spiked to the ties, while (though the English rail-makers refused at

first to believe this) the slim vertical mid-section provided enough girder strength to support the

weight of an engine. Thus a strong and durable but slightly flexible track structure could be laid

with a minimum of labor.[34]

On the Long Island Railroad, which employed similar trackage, the rails were fastened to the

ties using two spikes per tie on the outsides of the rails to prevent spreading and one on the inside,

except the chairs were anchored with four spikes, two on either side of the rail.[35] This practice

probably was followed by McNeill on the Boston and Providence.

It is said that no fences were built enclosing the Boston and Providence right-of-way, which if

true meant that many a locomotive engineer figuratively crossed his fingers and his Hibernian

fireman fervently crossed himself when they spotted a farmer‟s stray cow ambling along the track

ahead of them, in hopes that they didn't experience a close encounter with a few hundred pounds

of rare beef.[36] But when Emerson Briggs of Mansfield on 28 April 1836 deeded some two acres

of his property to the corporation for their right-of-way he specified that they should "erect all

77

necessary fences" between his remaining land and the land taken for the railroad.[37]

At about this time we encounter the first of several mysteries connected with the Boston and

Providence Rail Road -- the kilometer-posts that were erected along the right-of-way, apparently

in preference to conventional mileposts. As yet we do not know exactly who erected them or even

when they were erected, but erected they were. That they are not ghosts or figments of some

historian‟s fevered brain is proved by the fact that at least four and maybe five exist, apparently by chance, because they are not useful for any present purpose, and others are known to have existed.

Several of these kilo-posts even have been photographed.

We learn from a secondary source[38] that when Captain William Gibbs McNeill built the

railroad he set the kilometer-posts along the way. If we assume, despite some circumstantial

evidence to the contrary, that this was so, we must ask “Why?” It‟s possible that through his West Point education or his visit abroad, McNeill became quite properly enamored of the un-American

but more practical kilometers instead of miles. The metric system was not entirely foreign to the

United States. The U. S. Coast Survey in the early 1800s used meters and kilograms, and

Presidents Jefferson and John Quincy Adams favored adoption of the system. It was

unquestionably the way to go, and it's a pity succeeding generations didn't follow the lead of

whoever introduced kilometer posts on the Boston and Providence. The story is that pressure

brought to bear by the conservative public or the railroad‟s board of directors unfortunately forced the newfangled and unacceptably foreign kilometer markers to be uprooted and replaced by

mileposts. But not all were uprooted!

One kilometer post still existed in 1982 in Readville on the Dedham Branch. It read:

B.

48

Km

29.82

M.

This marker and its location were first reported by Jim Zwicker.[39] It appears to be in the

wrong place: the mileage from Boston ("B") suggests that it was moved from the main line

somewhere just north of Attleborough, perhaps by a history-conscious employe who recognized it

as an artifact worth saving, maybe after it had been uprooted by a track gang.

Another kilometer post survived well into the 20th century beside the main line at Sharon

78

Heights, and during the administration of New Haven Railroad president Frederic C. "Buck"

Dumaine, Jr. (1951-54), when a great deal of refurbishing of all kinds was done to spruce up the

road, the original markings on this stone post were touched up with black paint so they would

stand out legibly. It was photographed at an unknown date by Lewis Walter.[40] The legend read

as follows:

PROV.

38

Km.

23.61

M

It's believed this historic marker was removed during the ill-starred Patrick McGinnis

presidency (1954-56) following that of Dumaine. The 1941 New Haven Railroad track plats,

which are remarkably detailed, show no trace of any kilo-posts at Sharon Heights or elsewhere.

Two more surviving kilometer posts were brought to my attention by Richard Fleischer in 2006.

One stands amid weeds and brush alongside the former New Haven Railroad‟s West Roxbury Branch, which was abandoned in 1940, about 0.4 mile south of Spring Street and about 3.62 miles

from Forest Hills, on property about to be sold to a private abutter who, thankfully, realizes the

historic value of the stone and intends to preserve it. The incised lettering reads:

PROV.

68

Km.

42.25

M.

This marker, which is tipped slightly from vertical, is about a foot square and stands about five

feet high. The rough granite bears drill holes where it was split from the parent rock, and weighs

an estimated 1500 pounds. It is set cornerwise to the former right-of-way. The upper half of the

face, serving as a background for the inscription, has been ground smooth. The decimal point in

the mileage is placed high, as is the custom now in Europe.[41] At first thought, its location (or

mislocation) seems as inexplicable as the previous one – why should a stone on the West Roxbury

79

loop give the distance to Providence? But Fleischer and Lewis Schneider have determined that this

post is 42.25 miles from Providence if the distance is measured by way of the West Roxbury loop

through Forest Hills; seemingly a roundabout way of determining mileage (or kilometrage) but

perhaps useful for any commuter trains that made that trip, though a switchback or reverse

movement would be involved.

However, McNeill did not set this stone during or shortly after construction of the Boston and

Providence in 1834-35, because West Roxbury loop was not placed in service until 1850!

A fourth kilometer post still stands just east of Bussey bridge in Roslindale on the MBTA

Needham Branch (former West Roxbury loop), found and photographed by Edward Sweeney. This

is incised as follows:

B.

18

Km.

11.18

M.

This mileage would make sense only if the post stood beside the main line between Readville

and Canton Junction. Fleischer also points out the odd coincidence that the kilometer distance on

each of these four posts ends in “8.” (Was “8" the lucky number of some preservation-minded

official?)

Other kilometer posts are reported to have remained into the mid 20th century along McNeill's

old main line, now a secondary track from East Junction in Hebronville, Massachusetts, to Red

Bridge, Rhode Island, and near Clarendon Hills.[42] I hope that further research may resolve this

tantalyzing mystery. (See Appendix H for further discussion.)

On 18 September 1832, when it had become clear that the Boston and Providence steam

railroad was about to become a reality, the West Mansfield farmers who willingly or otherwise had

deeded a right-of-way through their lands to the horse railroad in 1828 rushed to the Bristol

County seat of "Tahnton" (as it was pronounced in the Yankee vernacular and as I still pronounce

it), ten miles away, to officially record their deeds at the Bristol County Registry.[43]

* * *

While this construction work was rolling along, exciting news filled the air of another railroad

which by running south and west from Providence in the general direction of New York City

80

would, if and when completed, relate in an important way to the Boston and Providence.

Passengers going from Boston to New York by steamboat from Providence had found the rough

voyage around Point Judith in southern Rhode Island less than enchanting – one traveler noted

apparently from his own experience that steamboat passengers “did not always feel like eating just

after the boats struck the long swell off Narragansett Pier.” Hence the welcome idea of a railroad from Providence to Stonington, Connecticut, and maybe beyond to avoid Seasick Alley off the

Rhode Island coast.[44]

On 14 May 1832 a group of investors from Rhode Island, Connecticut and (mostly) New York

prevailed on the Connecticut General Assembly to grant them a charter for the New York and

Stonington Railroad Company[45] to build a short line from the port of Stonington, Connecticut,

eastward to the state border as defined by the Pawcatuck River at the town of Westerly in

southwestern Rhode Island where it would form a useful continuation of a proposed railroad

coming down from Providence.[46]

These investors had the idea of putting together a near-all-rail route 90 miles long that would

whisk passengers and freight from Boston to Stonington, with a break only between one rail

terminal and another across Providence Harbor; from Stonington it being a relatively short and

safe steamship run inside Long Island, protected from the storms of the open sea, to New York.

As already explained, laying track across a state line continued to be fraught with legal and

political difficulties, and on 23 June of that year the investors had to convince the Rhode Island

General Assembly to grant a charter for the connecting line, ambitiously called the New-York,

Providence and Boston Rail Road Company, which would be given authority to build a 45-mile

road from Providence diagonally across the Ocean State to Westerly, with branches wherever

desired to any part of the shoreline of Narragansett Bay. This latter company was incorporated in

Rhode Island on the date its charter was granted, and was organized 23 January 1833.[47]

A logical union of these two corporations, forming a 50-mile interstate line (thus far existing

only on paper) which popularly became called the "Stonington railroad," was consummated 1

July.[48]

At Stonington a steamboat wharf was to be built. The Providence terminus of the projected

railroad would be located on the west bank of Providence River, across from Fox Point, where

there was to be a ferryboat connection with the Boston and Providence depot – thus the beginnings

of the famous "Shore Line" rail route, much of which at that time was still a "water line." This

proposed land-water route would shorten the Boston-New York time by three or four hours, which,

said visiting European engineer Gerstner who was accustomed to a more leisurely pace, "in

81

America is regarded as a very important motive," and would at least partly get around the problem

of Providence Harbor being blocked by ice for part of the year.[49]

Nor were the steamboats plying Long Island Sound the only potential carrier between

Stonington and New York. Toward the end of 1831 or the beginning of 1832 "the idea of a

communication between New York and Boston, by means of a Railroad through Long Island" was

contemplated. "It was then almost too much of a novelty to be thought seriously of," but the idea

having become familiar over time, it had "risen in public estimation" and began to be recognized

as "a bona fide business affair." This line, to be called, as one might expect, the Long-Island

Railroad, would run 96 miles from Queens or Brooklyn the length of the island, from which point

passengers and freight would take to sea-going ferries and cross to Stonington and thence onward

to the Rhode Island and Massachusetts capitals by rail.[50]

What all this meant to the Boston and Providence was that when the "Stonington" was

completed (it would open 17 November 1837), improved and faster rail-water service could be

offered between Boston and New York, with 91 miles of the trip – or 187 miles if the Long Island

route were completed – by train. Providence, with its harbor interrupting the otherwise swift and

easy flow of traffic, would be downgraded to merely an inconvenient way station.

Surveying and construction of the Stonington railroad began in 1833 under the direction of yet

another West Pointer, Captain William H. Swift, later to become resident engineer of the Western

Railroad, assisted by those busy fellows William Gibbs McNeill, who by then had been breveted a

major in the Topographic service, and George Washington Whistler. [51] This seems a surprising

and unexplained desertion by McNeill of his Boston and Providence duties; but he must have left

the capable W. Raymond Lee in at least partial charge of building the latter road, aided perhaps by

Trimble, Capron, Stone and Cunningham. It may even have been at this time that Lee was

appointed superintendent of the railroad in McNeill's place.

On 23 December 1833 three more West Mansfield farmers – Stephen Smith, Amasa Harding

and one other, perhaps Apollos Skinner – wrote "location" deeds to the Boston and Providence

Rail Road Corporation. Smith transferred to the railroad a 66-foot-wide, 460-foot-long piece of the

right-of-way between John Hodges Brook and West Mansfield, then known locally as Tobit's,

reserving for himself a private crossing at grade that endured into the mid-20th century. Harding's

transfer is not indicated on the maps in my possession, but probably lay north of Smith's. The

unidentified parcel was situated at the Elm Street grade crossing.[52]

We have seen the Boston and Providence's charter granted, the survey completed, the location

chosen, earthwork done and track beginning to be spiked down (though the yawning gap at

82

Canton remained). Now, and no doubt Major McNeill so advised the road's directors, the time had

come to go forth and buy some locomotives!

NOTES

1. Bayles 1891; Harlow 1946: 104-5.

2. Copeland 1930a; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 4.

3. Salisbury 1967: 132 in Yamaji 1998.

4. Locomotive Engineering Nov. 1900.

5. Stone and Webster 1990.

6. Loxton and Hamlyn 1963-70: 12-13.

7. Charles Dickens on his 1867 trip to America wrote of a somewhat similar and scary but non-fatal occurrence

when crossing either the Thames or the Connecticut River by rail-ferry: "Two rivers have to be crossed, and each time

the whole train is banged aboard a big steamer. The steamer rises and falls with the river, which the railroad don't do;

and the train is either banged up hill or banged down hill. In coming off the steamer at one of these crossings

yesterday, we were banked up such a height that the rope broke, and our carriage rushed back with a run down hill

into the boat again. I whisked out in a moment, and two or three others after me, but nobody else seemed to care about

it" (Harlow 1946: 185; RRE 1952: 8).

8. Harlow 1946: 105-6.

9. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 356.

10. This interesting description of a then-novel but now familiar travel phenomenon was made by 20-year-old

actress Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble after what amounted to a joy ride on an engine piloted by George Stephenson

(on whom she developed a crush) on the Liverpool & Manchester, August 1830; in Loxton and Hamlyn 1963-70: 19.

11. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

12. The first cut is about 1.7 mile south of the present Amtrak Route 128 station, near the Shawmut Industrial Park

warehouses (Skehan 2001: 112). The deep rock cut nearest Canton Jct. was the scene on 15 Dec. 1968, two weeks

before the New Haven R. R.'s corporate demise, of a humongous 42-car freight train derailment that took a week to

clear up and caused through trains to be rerouted via Walpole and Foxborough.

13. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 357.

14. This spot has been a favorite place for collecting 300-million-year-old plant fossils; in 1975 a geologist and I

extracted nine species of Pennsylvanian-age fern and leaf imprints here and in the process taped the distance from

Pine St. to the cut.

15. Sheldon 1862/1988: 85. The same writer (op. cit.: 122) tells that he "teamed rails and ties for nine miles of

road" using oxen; this was for Boston & Maine. As with sumo wrestlers, it wasn't the strength of oxen that counted but

their heft.

16. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 356, writing of Whistler's Western R. R., on which horses evidently were the preferred

draft animal.

17. Sheldon 1862/1988: 97.

18. By 1831 most English railways had converted to wooden sleepers (Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 10).

83

19. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 301-2. Sand or gravel, when wet, will pack very solidly. Sheldon (1862/1988: 105),

writing of the construction of the Boston & Lowell, describes "sixteen Irishmen pounding down the gravel with

mauls" at $6 per rod (16.5 feet). He advised the engineer and proved by demonstration that "four heavy oxen and their

sixteen feet will do more than sixteen mauls" and could do it more cheaply.

Solomon Willard in his 16 Jan. 1829 report to the Massachusetts Internal Improvements Board had recommended

that the proposed Boston & Providence as well as the Albany railroad use the infrastructure employed on the Granite

Ry (NHRAA 1940-52?2002: 2). Fortunately, better heads prevailed.

20. Writing of the New York & Harlem R. R. on which stone ties had been used in one place and wooden ties in

another, Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 249) says, "Where the rails are nailed to stone, in particular, the ride is very rough,

as everyone who travels on the line can feel distinctly, for as soon as the coaches reach a section where the rails are

laid on wood, the motion immediately becomes much gentler. At the same time, the very rough movement where the

rails are fastened to stone has also had such damaging effects on the coaches that it was felt necessary to remove all

the stone over time and replace it with timbers. Under the pressure of the wheels, the 3-inch rails became flattened out

or widened at the edges to as much as 4-1/2 and 5 inches where they were fastened to stones. Nothing of this sort has

ever occurred where the rails rest on timber stringers, and it provides a remarkable example of the detrimental effects

of stone foundation supports."

McNeill, on his educational visit to England, undoubtedly had seen that stone sleepers were used there at first

because of the country's scarcity of timber (Harlow 1946: 106).

21. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323. The idea of wooden crossties in the U. S. originated with the inventive

mechanical engineer Robert L. Stevens (1787-1856), president of the Camden & Amboy R. R. in New Jersey and the

son of railroad pioneer John Stevens. When stone blocks were not furnished quickly enough by the prison inmates

doing the work for a roadbed that he was building he tried as “temporary” ties logs embedded crosswise in crushed stone and gravel ballast and discovered they made a better base on which to lay rails. As the next logical step, Stevens

also devised the familiar hook-headed track spikes, "six inches long with heads," to clinch his rails to the logs.

The Fitchburg R. R. was using white cedar ties as late as 1860, although apparently they previously had employed

chestnut, the reverse of Boston & Providence. Thoreau (Journal 17 Oct. 1860) says, "It is well known that the chestnut

timber of this vicinity has rapidly disappeared within fifteen years, having been used for railroad sleepers, for [fence]

rails, and for planks, so that there is danger that this part of our forest will become extinct." On 21 Nov. 1860, when

making a study of tree growth, he writes, "Got to-day a section of a white cedar sleeper which I am told came from the

eastward and was brought up from Charlestown." He counted 250 annual rings in a diameter of 16-1/4 inches (an

unusually large sleeper!), and went on, "I see other sleepers nearly as old. . . . It was a flourishing young cedar of at

least some fifteen summers when the Pilgrims came over. Thus the cars on our railroad, and all their passengers, roll

over the trunks of trees sleeping beneath them which were planted years before the first white man settled in New

England."

Sheldon (1862/1988: 109-110), who worked at times as a contractor building railroads north and northwest of

Boston, gives us an idea of the planning that went into a tie-cutting operation. In Dec. 1834 he made a contract "for

cedar ties enough for seven miles of railroad." He found a spot in Middleton, Mass., "where plenty of cedar could be

taken from a swamp when sufficiently frozen, and to facilitate the road to the [saw]mill, it was necessary to cross

Middleton Pond. This was December 19th, and one more cold night was deemed sufficient to make the [ice on the]

Pond bearable. Our teams were at South Woburn, now Winchester, making preparations for an early start, and so well

84

did we succeed that the next morning at sunrise a load of cedar might be seen crossing Middleton Pond on its way to

mill. Before the opening of Spring a choice lot of cedar was collected there, more than enough to fill our contract; the

surplus was readily taken at the same price." He adds, "Much of the lumber being too good for ties, was worked into

boards, and a good winter's work realized. Twenty oxen and twenty men were employed; and not only in Middleton,

but in Wilmington, North Reading, Reading and South Reading, swamps were scoured for cedar, and besides our ties

nearly one hundred thousand feet of boards were supplied." This was white cedar; red cedar, though common in

Massachusetts, grows only on dry uplands.

Sheldon (op. cit.: 129) also tells of "Great numbers of chestnut ties" that were cut in New Hampshire and shipped

by freight train for use in laying the Boston & Maine R. R. about 1839.

Crossties also were made from oak, locust wood and red cedar, though Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 220) notes that red

cedar ties "are never very sturdy." By the end of the 19th century and until the time of the destructive chestnut blight

early in the 20th, chestnut had replaced cedar as the preferred wood for ties; before creosoting became common

around 1920, the 8- to 10-year life of chestnut wood in contact with the ground (untreated oak ties would rot in 3 to 4

years) was considered a valuable asset. Before the blight, chestnut made up half the trees in our forests. Northern

white-cedar ties are 73% the weight of chestnut ties of equal size; those described by Gerstner weighed about 44

pounds apiece air-dried and could easily be carried by one workman.

22. Harlow 1946: 106.

23. Harlow 1946: 106-7. Even so, the cost of building Boston & Providence ($44,250 per mile), though 36% above

the average of cost per mile of building 21 New England railroads completed by 1839, came to only 63% of the cost

of Boston & Lowell (rendered more expensive than it should have because of a poor initial choice of rails which had

to be totally replaced) and 84% that of Boston & Worcester (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 366-7).

24. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324.

25. For example, Belcher 1938 and perhaps Copeland 1936-56: 63.

26. Dix 1973. At the time there was a shortage in the U. S. of suitable rails. The Baltimore & Ohio R. R. and the

South Carolina Canal & R. R. Co. in 1828 petitioned the U. S. congress to permit the importating of iron rail and

locomotives duty-free (Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 10).

27. According to one story, the true inventor of the flat-bottomed rail laid directly on the sleepers without resting

on chairs was Charles Blacker Vignoles (1793-1875), an Anglo-American soldier/surveyor/engineer who worked in

England between 1823 and 1827 and later in Europe; in 1837 he was engineer in charge of building the Sheffield,

Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Ry and its 3-mile Woodhead tunnel in England. The Vignoles rail initially was

popular in France but little used in Britain, where now it is employed exclusively. R. L. Simpson is associated with the

development of the flat-bottomed rail in the U. S. (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2000, 2002 ).

American tradition tells a somewhat different tale. The same Robert L. Stevens who found wooden ties superior to

stone, while on a voyage to England in 1830 to buy a locomotive for his Camden & Amboy R. R. and inspect railway

equipment already in use there, is said to have designed (he whittled the small prototype model from a block of wood)

the "inverted 'T,'" as it is still called today, or "H" rail, as Stevens called it, with its 3-inch-broad base, which did not

require "chairs" and "could be spiked with hook headed spikes directly to the bearing." This became known as the

Stevens, American or "massive" rail; 500 tons of these were rolled for him by English ironmasters and first used in on

his railroad in 1832 (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 632; Van Metre 1926-56: 70-71; Harlow 1946: 351; none of whom

mentions Vignoles or Simpson).

85

Vignoles also introduced superelevation of the outer rail on curves (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2000, ref. K. H.

Vignoles, 1982, Charles Blacker Vignoles ); this idea was used in England and Europe by 1827 and on the Baltimore

& Ohio in 1839, leaving it a question whether McNeill raised the outer rail of curves on the Boston & Providence.

28. The first effective rails in England were cast iron which, though it was hard, as traffic loads grew proved brittle

and wore or broke too readily, so that more expensive, tougher but softer wrought iron was substituted. The first steel

rails were used in England in 1853 but did not come into use in the U. S. until 1863 and on the Boston & Providence

in 1873. It is Bayles (1891) who says the rails were “made after the design” of W. R. Lee. 29. By English standards this was heavy rail. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) has been unable to find any

reference to rail heavier than 34 pounds per yard being used in England in the 1830s.

30. In England this track width commonly was called "narrow gauge" because much track there was being laid

with broader widths up to 7 feet. The story that George or Robert Stephenson determined on the odd gauge of 4 feet 8-

1/2 inches for their railways after measuring the breadth of ancient Roman chariot tracks is a myth that originated

when one of the Stephensons measured the wagon ruts at Pompeii out of curiosity after he already had decided on a

width for his track. Everyone has his pet theory of how the “standard gauge” track width originated. Mine, based on Occam‟s principle that simplest is best, is this: it probably derived accidentally from an original 5 foot gauge, when

the wheels of rolling stock were reversed to put the flanges inside the railheads instead of outside to keep the wheels

from pulling off their axles and to prevent derailing on curves when centrifugal force caused the inner wheel to lift

and the lateral thrust to be thrown against the outer wheel; the track later being widened by a half inch to prevent

binding. Today the track gauge often is widened up to a half inch on curves. The present standard gauge is not far

from an optimum width, yet a somewhat wider track, say 5 feet, which prior to the Civil War was used throughout the

South, would be desirable; but in 1886 the southern trackage was standard-gauged to suit the track width of the

dominant northern and western roads and it is now too late to change. The Canadian government insisted on a 5 ft. 6

in. gauge and the Grand Trunk and Great Western railways were built to that width but in 1872-74 changed to standard

gauge so that interchange with U. S. roads was possible.

31. Somewhat similar chairs used on the Long Island Railroad were 7-1/2 inches long, 5-1/2 inches wide, 1/2 inch

thick where the rails rested on them and 1 inch thick elsewhere and weighed 8-1/2 pounds. (Gerstner 1842-43/1997:

269 and fig. 9.)

32. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323. Gerstner appears to be comparing this square-ended rail with John Curr's rail

(1776), the Dowlais rail (1791), the Trevil rail (1796) and other English rails, all of which had male-female joints (A.

M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002)..

33. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323-4.

34. Del Vecchio 1999: 19.

35. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: fig. 9.

36. Belcher 1938; J. W. Haines pers. comm. 1948. A Mansfield observer, Elijah Dean (Copeland 1931a), lets us

know that by 1837 a "cow-catcher" had been affixed to the forward end of Boston & Providence locomotives and was

responsible for smashing up the cart of a farmer who in a thick fog stopped, looked but forgot to listen at a West

Mansfield grade crossing. (Webster claims the word "cowcatcher" came into the language a year later.) Such a useful

device is now called a pilot. Before cowcatchers were applied, no doubt some sort of rail sweeps (some railroads used

short-handled brooms) were affixed to the lower front end of the engine to clear the rails of fallen branches and other

debris, but these were too flimsy to deflect livestock and farm vehicles.

86

37. Holman 1931: 37-8. Yet, if it made the enginemen feel any better, neither was Mass. Railroad Law of 1835

particularly sympathetic to owners of livestock struck or even not struck on the track. Paragraph 16 provided that, "If

a horse or other animal is found running loose on the line, the persons whose error or negligence was responsible for

this happening shall pay a fine of $20 (maximum) and shall also be responsible for any damages." (Gerstner 1842-

43/1997: 298.)

38. Harlow (1946: 107), who comments (107n) that the existence of kilo-posts "has been doubted by some, but

that eminent railroad antiquarian, Warren Jacobs, and others still alive have seen the posts." Jacobs, of Boston, was

then secretary of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. Now we have photographs for proof.

39. NH Newsletter, Oct. 1982: NHRHS issue 66, p. 5. It was seen in May 2006 by R. Fleischer and L. Schneider.

40. NH Newsletter, Dec. 1982: NHRHS issue 68, p. 6.

41. R. Fleischer in 2006 provided me with a clear photo, taken 25 Feb. 2006 by E. J. Sweeney, of the West

Roxbury stone.

42. L. Walter in NH Newsletter, Dec. 1982: NHRHS, issue 68, p. 6. A fifth kilo-post marked “B 11 K, 6.82 M” reportedly was seen by Alan Pommer near the Canterbury Street overpass in Clarendon Hills (R. Fleischer pers.

comm. 2006). That these are not mileposts converted to read in kilometers is proved by the fact that the kilometers

read in whole numbers. Though I walked over much of the old Seekonk line in the mid-1970s I observed no kilo-

posts.

43. Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, v. 137, p. 1.

44. S. Schneider 1974. As late as 1864 former Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Portland Chase is reported to

have suffered a “grueling trip” aboard an overnight Providence-New York steamboat in stormy Long Island Sound,

and a later traveler was injured when thrown about his stateroom during rough weather.

45. NYNH&H 1917. According to Harlow (1946: 220) the railroad was called the Providence & Stonington.

46. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3.

47. “An act to incorporate,” etc., 1832; NYNH&H 1917; Belcher 1938: no. 4; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 5; NHRAA

1940-52/2002: 3.

48. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 332; NYNH&H 1917; Belcher 1938: no. 4 (who gives the date of union as 24 Sept.

1833); Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 4. Another source (Davidson 1837/40)

incorrectly uses the name "Stonington and Providence R. R." for N.-Y., P. & B.

49. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 332.

50. Long Island Star 2 Oct. 1834. In another 100 years the Long Island Railroad would become the number one

passenger-carrying road in the U. S.; these riders, however, were mostly New York City commuters.

51. Harlow 1946: 221.

52. NYNH&H map 62530, plan in Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, Mass. (courtesy of L. F.

Flynn 1998).

87

5 – B. and P. gets its first locomotive engines

By the time the Boston and Providence Rail Road got ready to buy its first locomotives, the self-

propelled railway steam engine was well established on the other side of the Atlantic. The steam

locomotive was invented in England as a logical development of the stationary steam engine used

to pump water from mines, and the first "travelling engines," as they were called, were employed

in mine railway service. Records exist of a locomotive of sorts at the Cornwall mines as early as

1801, and in Wales in 1804 a steam engine built by Richard Trevithick was clumping along an

iron-works tramway, where it successfully hauled 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers a distance of

9-1/2 miles (another early mixed train?). Trevithick was the first to recognize that the friction of

smooth metal-tired wheels on smooth metal rails provided enough adhesion and traction for

climbing ordinary grades, which few persons at the time could or would believe. The rate of

improvements increased exponentially, and by 1813 an engine bearing the quaint name of Wylam

Dilly[1] was competing successfully with horse traction at an English coal mine.

Locomotives now began to appear in England one after another. In 1825 George Stephenson of

Newcastle upon Tyne turned out his first engine, called Active, later renamed Locomotion

(Locomotive Number 1), which on the opening day of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 27

September 1825, drew a 27-car, 90-ton mixed train[2] carrying 450 passengers and 90 tons of

freight at speeds reaching 12 to 15 miles per hour, and in hauling trains was to prove itself one-

third cheaper than equine power.[3]

Only three and a half years later George and his son Robert L. Stephenson's famed Rocket,

virtually the first "modern" steam locomotive with its water-jacketed coke-burning firebox, multi-

tubular boiler which augmented the heating surface and notably increased steam production, direct

connection between pistons and drive wheels, exhaust blast-pipe that created a strong draft in the

firebox[4] and improved inlet steam valves, pulling a coach containing 30 passengers, rocketed

over a test course at a blazing top speed of 29 miles per hour, considerably faster than any man-

made vehicle had ever traveled under its own power.[5] The success of Rocket proved to the world

the usefulness of the steam locomotive as a means of transportation.

Most of the early locomotives to operate in the United States were imported from England.[6]

The first one of these to run experimentally (and briefly – it was thought too heavy for a jerry-built

trestle and flimsy wooden track) in the Western Hemisphere was the stout-bellied seven-ton

Stourbridge Lion of the coal-hauling Delaware and Hudson Canal Company on 8 August 1829.

88

The first full-sized engine completely built in the United States for sale to a railroad and the first to

haul a train of passenger cars in regular service on American rails was Best Friend of

Charleston[7] which in 1830 reached 25 miles per hour on its inaugural run over the South

Carolina Canal and Railroad Company's 136-mile line from Charleston to Hamburg, South

Carolina – the longest railroad in the world! – but suffered a lethal blow-up of its bottle-shaped

vertical boiler 17 June 1831 when Best Friend's black fireman tied down (or sat on, some say) the

safety valve lever [8] because he found the hiss of escaping steam bothersome, and shortly

thereafter found himself in orbit.

The first steam locomotive to tread New England rails was probably Boston and Worcester's

Boston[9] built in Newcastle by Robert Stephenson, shipped in pieces to Boston, barged up the

Middlesex canal and reassembled at the large water-powered machine shop of the Proprietors of

Locks and Canals Corporation on the Merrimack River (cited hereinafter simply as Locks and

Canals) in Lowell, Massachusetts, under the supervision of a British engineer and placed in non-

revenue service on the Worcester road in August 1832 as a construction engine. No mechanical

data exist on this locomotive.[10] But keep this machine in mind, because in the absence of harder

evidence I intend to weave it into an arguable hypothesis of my own.

On the Boston and Providence, during much of the construction phase of the work after rails

were laid, horses and perhaps oxen were used to draw the carts and flanged-wheeled cars of dirt,

rock, timbers, ties, rails and kegs of spikes and possibly to tote workers, foremen, contractors and

engineers to the scene of their labors. But there had to come a time when construction had

progressed so inconveniently far from the termini, and as the depth of cuts and fills and hence the

tonnage of spoil to be moved grew and the grades got steeper, that greater and faster motive power

was needed.

The first three steam locomotives purchased by Boston and Providence appear to have arrived

on the road in 1833.[11] They were called (in the days when, undoubtedly influenced by the

practice of naming ships, railroad engines were given names) Whistler, Black Hawk and

Lincoln.[12]

The pioneer Whistler is in many ways the most tantalizingly mysterious of all the Boston and

Providence locomotives, and I agree with more competent researchers than I that its brief history

before it arrived on the Providence road may never be known. Even its career after arrival is

subject to question.

First of all, Whistler's place of birth has been disputed. That respected chronicler of Boston and

Providence motive power, Charles E. Fisher, states that it was built in England by Robert L.

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Stephenson no later than 1833. The equally respected William D. Edson, in correcting and

amending Fisher's work, claims Whistler was built at Locks and Canals.[13] It now appears Fisher

was right. Although Stephenson's construction number for the locomotive has not been

determined, research by investigators in England seems to have verified that the engine was built

in that country.[14] Locks and Canals, on the other hand, though apparently they gained their

knowledge of locomotive design and construction by erecting two disassembled engines received

from England in 1831 or '32[15] (one of these perhaps the aforesaid Boston), did not begin

building their own locomotives until 1835.[16]

Not only is the origin of Whistler in question, but so is the manner of its arrival on the Boston

and Providence. It appears to have come to the property second-hand – "pre-owned," to use the

automobile-dealers' vernacular. To investigate that possibility, we need first to look at the motive

power of two of the other three railroads operating out of Boston.

Another of New England's early engines was the 10-ton John Bull, built by Stephenson for the

Boston and Lowell. This locomotive was crated and shipped in a "knocked-down" condition from

Liverpool aboard the schooner Choctaw in November 1832,[17] being forwarded from Boston by

way of the Middlesex canal to Locks and Canals and there, with difficulty, because no working

drawings accompanied the engine, reassembled by a couple of clever in-house mechanics for

construction use on Boston and Lowell.[18] One researcher claims to have seen evidence that a

smaller unnamed Stephenson locomotive accompanied John Bull[19] and that because of delays

in building the Lowell road, the smaller of the two engines was not needed and was sold in 1833

to the Boston and Providence,[20] where McNeill renamed it Whistler in honor of his helpful

brother-in-law[21] (though it would be another two years before George Washington Whistler

took over the superintendency at Locks and Canals).

This is an attractive supposition, except for the fact that, as research in England appears to

indicate, Robert Stephenson delivered only one engine to Boston and Lowell in 1832, and this,

called John Bull and/or Stephenson, evidently was retained in service by that railroad as apparently

their only Stephenson-built engine.[22]

If we assume that Whistler was delivered second-hand to Boston and Providence in 1833, and if

the Providence road did not buy it from Boston and Lowell, where did it come from? I suggest one

other possibility: that it was the aforementioned Boston, built by Stephenson in 1832 as Boston

and Worcester's first engine,[23] which perhaps did arrive aboard the same schooner as John Bull

but after being assembled by Locks and Canals went to the Worcester road.

90

Boston and Worcester in 1835 owned five six-ton Stephenson-built locomotives bearing the

astronomical names Meteor, Comet, Rocket, Mercury and Jupiter.[24] These, like Whistler, were

of the popular wheel arrangement much later to be called the 2-2-0 type: two small leading or

"pony" wheels followed by two larger powered or driving wheels and no trailing wheels.

Significantly, Boston, the Worcester road‟s first engine, is not listed among these! Of course,

construction work is notoriously hard on locomotives and it‟s possible that Boston wore out or was

wrecked by 1835. But if not, is it too far fetched to hypothesize that since Boston seems to have

vanished from the Worcester road's roster before 1835 without a recorded trace, that this was the

locomotive sold second hand to Boston and Providence in 1833 and renamed Whistler? Or that if

Boston after its arrival from overseas was put together by Locks and Canals, Edson may have been

led to believe it was built there? I would value further learned opinion, pro or con, on this

matter.[24a]

Locomotive development and design had not stood still since Stephenson's Rocket took to the

rails, and Whistler, however obtained by Boston and Providence, represented as great an advance

over Rocket as Rocket was over its predecessors. It was what Stephenson styled the Planet type of

locomotive, having a single pair of 60-inch drive wheels cranked by two inside-connected

cylinders with an interior bore diameter of 11 inches and a 16-inch piston stroke. These known

specifications of Whistler conform well to published descriptions of Stephenson's prototype

Planet, completed for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in October 1830. The inside

cylinders were tucked beneath the boiler within the warm smokebox where they and the pipes

supplying them with live steam were cozily insulated, thus preventing pressure-reducing

condensation on the cylinder walls, and were connected by rods to the double-cranked driving

wheel axle. The frame was of wood, with the main axle bearings outside the deep plate frames,

which, together with four inside bearings, meant that if an axle broke (a common failure in those

days) the drive wheels were contained by the frames and would not fly off and derail the train.

The firebox of a typical early Stephenson locomotive to our eyes looks hardly big enough to

warm a small American home, never mind powering an engine and train over the rails. The boiler

of Stephenson's original 1830 Planet, which had an outer firebox wrapper sheet arched at the top,

though easy to construct, possessed limited steam space above the crown sheet.[25] An oddity

visible in drawings of this locomotive is a raised covered manhole midway atop the boiler.[26]

Combined firebox, boiler and smokebox formed a unit about 10-1/2 feet long, the boiler being

three feet in diameter. Boiler pressure was around 50 pounds per square inch and the locomotive

developed 30 horsepower. Weight of the engine was eight tons. We have no idea what Whistler's

91

paint scheme looked like, but a portrait of Stephenson's Planet built for British service shows it

attired in modestly tasteful yellow and gray.[27]

The Planet type as used in England was designed to burn coke[28] but I have seen no records

that indicate whether Whistler in the beginning burned coal, coke or wood; at first I suspected the

former, as Boston and Providence is reported to have purchased three anthracite-burners,[29] but a

record of steaming tests conducted early in 1835 indicates that Whistler then burned pine wood

(probably pitch pine) for fuel.[30]

The Planet class as successfully used on the top-notch track and roadbeds of English railways

represented, with its horizontal cylinders and fire-tube boiler, a major advance in design and

technology over Stephenson's 1829 Rocket, but it had its faults. Although the low, centered

position of the cylinders gave a steady motion of the rods that led to a smoother ride than that

afforded by outside-cranked and cylindered engines, the high center of gravity and short

wheelbase caused a certain amount of pitching and hunting ("nosing") at speed, particularly on the

less well surfaced American roads; however at the slow speeds at which construction trains were

operated this should not have been a problem. The inside positions of the crank-axles were a

mechanic's migraine, as were the end bearings of the drive rods, which were weakened by being

split so they could be removed and replaced. The awkwardness of getting at the internal running

gear to make repairs, the danger of a broken crank axle sending a drive rod through the boiler

shell, and the short life, weight and cost of the cranks offset the advantage of the engine's smooth-

running qualities.

We know that this model of a pioneer machine, with all its good points and defects, was

assigned to construction service on the southern end of Boston and Providence (separated from the

Boston end by the unbridged vale at Canton) because of an incident involving Whistler at

Mansfield in summer of 1834.

Having tried one English engine, Boston and Providence next opted for two locomotives of

domestic manufacture.[31] These were also of the 2-2-0 type: Black Hawk and Lincoln. The latter

had 48-inch drive wheels and 14 by 20-inch cylinders – to judge from the smaller drivers and

longer piston stroke it developed more tractive power than Whistler, though that would depend too

on the boiler pressure. By placing the single pair of drive wheels ahead of the firebox, thus

throwing a greater proportion of the engine's weight on the drivers, the builders claimed these two

machines could draw heavier loads without slipping.

Both engines were built by the American Steam Carriage Company of Colonel Stephen H.

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Long[32] and William Norris in Philadelphia and conveyed to the Boston and Providence by ship.

Norris (1802-1867), a conspicuous loser who failed in everything he tried, was mainly a

promoter;[33] but Long was an engineer and inventor. A few years before, Long had worked with

William Gibbs McNeill as a surveyor laying out the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, so it may be

he traded on that old acquaintanceship in selling Boston and Providence two of his firm's engines.

As early as 1829 Long had designed a locomotive having an unorthodox firebox in which

anthracite coal from Pennsylvania could be burned[34] and the company evidently was formed in

1832 in hopes of marketing this invention. Not much had been learned at this date about the

proper use of slow-burning anthracite, which, though clean and smokeless, is cranky to ignite and

to keep burning, requiring a broad grate, heavy artificial draft and a skilled and conscientious

fireman, and Long's first engine, when placed on trial by its builders, had to stop every mile or so

to blow up its flagging steam pressure.[35]

Refusing to be put off by this failure, Long, Norris and several others in 1832 founded the

Steam Carriage company, and in 1833[36] produced a second engine, called Black Hawk, named

for a noted Indian war leader[37], which was only marginally more successful.[38] This machine,

delivered to Boston and Providence that same year,[39] was a Rube Goldberg agglomeration of

novel and borderline impractical features. Besides having a "detachable" firebox, its smokestack,

in order to provide sufficient draft for the anthracite, towered 20 feet above rail level, though it

could be lowered at the cost of some delay combined with profanity on the part of the fireman,

who was expected to unload from the footplate and do the dirty work when it became necessary to

pass under a bridge.[40] Black Hawk was placed in construction service on the Boston part of the

railroad, giving McNeill a working engine on each end of the line. It is worth mentioning that so

many difficulties were encountered in placing Long‟s locomotive designs into production that the

Steam Carriage company was dissolved after only two years, in 1834.

As to Lincoln, diplomatically named for the popular and seemingly perennial Massachusetts

Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr.,[41] it too was constructed as an anthracite-burner, but having proved a

lemon, in 1834 it was shipped back to Norris and Long to be rebuilt, presumably to use wood for

fuel, and returned to the Boston and Providence in 1835.[42]

In all, three anthracite-burning locomotives were tried by the Boston and Providence, but were

unpopular with the firemen, who evidently regarded them as monstrosities and did not appreciate

and perhaps did not try to adapt their firing techniques to the unfamiliar and unfriendly qualities of

hard coal. Another drawback to anthracite, besides those listed above, is that it is breakable, and by

the time it got dumped into the engine tender after transport from the mines and repeated handling,

93

it contained much "slack" or fine coal, which was carried unburned from the firebox through the

tubes and up the stack, wasting as much fuel as if the hard-working fireman had thrown every

third scoopful overboard instead of through the fire door. Add to this, that the cost of shipping

anthracite coal from Pennsylvania was high[43] and the graphitic anthracite mined nearby in

Rhode Island and in Mansfield was of uncertain supply and inferior quality ("fireproof," some

uncharitably called it, even implying that at the final conflagration of the universe the safest

shelter would be a New England coal mine), it probably was natural for Boston and Providence to

revert to the cheap, familiar and easily available wood fuel, despite its propensity for showering

sparks on the trackside forests and fields, the engine crew and (later) the passengers.

Lincoln had a long but somewhat uncertain history. By 1838 it was no longer in active service

and apparently spent 16 years languishing amidst the ragweed on a rusted siding behind the

railroad's newly-erected Roxbury shops before being rebuilt again by John Souther at the Globe

Locomotive Works, South Boston, in November 1854 and sold to that collector of museum-piece

engines, the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad, which gave it the number 5 and renamed it Mt.

Bowdoin.[44]

As for "crew comfort" aboard these cabless early locomotives, the enginemen were forced to

brace themselves on the open deck behind the firebox – one foot on the engine, the other on the

tender, is said to have been de rigueur for the fireman, a hazardous position if locomotive and

tender chanced to separate at speed, as they sometimes did[45] – prevented only by gates from

falling over the side, without seats or shelter, not even a windshield. Here they endured, like the

legendary postman, rain, sleet and all sorts of abominable weather, bending their heads forward

against the billows of smoke and the stinging hail of embers from wood fuel or cinders and fly ash

from coal that belched from the stack and the intermittent showerbaths of hot water and saturated

steam from the safety valve; all for the simple reason that "if stage coach drivers could stand the

weather then so could engine drivers."[46]

It was to be some while (after 1843 on the Boston and Providence but not until 1855 on all

roads) before management brass collars[47] in their comfortable offices allowed themselves to

admit that dry crewmen performed better than wet ones. Eventually the lucky enginemen were

granted canvas windshields and hoods, at least in winter, and, finally, enclosed glass-windowed

wooden cabs with the luxury of places to sit.

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NOTES

1. The proper presentation of locomotive names is for them to be set in italics, without a preceding “The” unless it is part of the locomotive name, and without quotation marks; and of train names, set in roman letters within quotation

marks preceded by “the” or, within the quotes, by “The” if it is part of the train name. 2. Neither A. M. Levitt nor I are sure when the expression "mixed train" originated, or when American timetables

first indicated such a train. In England the first scheduled mixed trains by our definition were operated on the Great

Western Ry c1840 when passenger cars were attached to goods (freight) trains. Prior to that time the term was applied

to a train consisting of both first- and second-class carriages; this kind of train was run by Great Western from its

opening on 4 July 1837 (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002).

3. Contrary to popular impression (an expression I have learned to use a lot), the replacement of horsepower

with steam engines in England was not wholly a "natural evolution of technology." At the beginning of the 19th

century Britishers seemed content with horse-drawn trains of coal "chaldrons" and an occasional "waggon" containing

passengers – who initially were conveyed at the rates established for coal! The Napoleonic War, however, and its

demands for cavalry, artillery and draft animals, effected a great shortage of horses and accompanying rising prices in

England and Scotland. This, coupled with very substantial increases in the price of hay and a shortage of drivers,

brought about higher and higher costs for the transport of coal. Mine owners, recognizing that increased transport

costs would result in lowered marketplace demand for their product, decided that the steam locomotive could replace

haulage by horse and promoted the use of the engine as a surrogate for equine power (A. M. Levitt, pers. comms.

2001, 2003, quoting "acceptable arguments" by British railway authorities Charles E. Lee and M. J. T. Lewis).

Locomotion No. 1's boiler later exploded, killing its driver.

4. Prof. Ludy (1920) notes that before Stephenson hit on the idea of providing forced draft by sending exhaust

steam through the smokebox and up the stack no locomotive can be said to have been successful. The first to observe

that the draft could be aided by steam exhausted into the smokebox through a blast pipe and up the stack, however,

appears to have been Trevithick, whose initial locomotive had such an arrangement in 1804 (White 1968-79: 111).

The small orifice of the blast pipe is said to have created a loud exhaust that cracked like a rifle shot.

5. Apologists for the automobile should note that in the 25 years following 1829, development of locomotives

and track occurred at a swifter pace than development of cars and highways in the early 20th century.

Rocket, on 15 September 1830, the opening day of the Liverpool & Manchester Ry, participated in the world's first

public railway fatality by running over Mr. William Huskisson, a 60-year-old Member of Parliament for Liverpool

and former Colonial Secretary in the Duke of Wellington's cabinet, who was the first but far from the last to make the

mistake of standing absentmindedly on the track. Another engine, Northumbrian, which rushed the unfortunate man to

the nearest medical facility in Eccles, ran 17 miles in 25 minutes, reaching the previously unheard of maximum speed

of 36 miles per hour. Spectator to this sad affair was Huskisson‟s arch enemy, the Duke of Wellington, prime minister

of England. Ironically, Huskisson, a liberal Tory described as “both sickly and accident-prone” (he was lame), had been a strong proponent of the very technology that killed him.

The success of Rocket, which demonstrated the previously questioned ability of the smooth metal tire to maintain a

grip on smooth metal rails, pretty much sounded the death knell of the stationary engines and rope haulage previously

so much in vogue in England on steep pitches and also of cog-and-rack traction on main line railways.

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6. John H. White, Jr., (1968-79: 7) is authority for the statement that U. S. railroads bought about 120 English

locomotives from 1829 to 1841, after which, as domestic designs became preferred, such imports from the Mother

Country ceased. Levitt (1999: 2) states that during the same period 131 English-built locomotives were placed in

service on 33 U. S. railroads. Orders also were placed in England for locomotive parts; the Boston & Providence

president‟s letter-book 1836-38 contains a copy of an order written by B&P chief W. W. Woolsey to a Liverpool,

England, firm for 38 tires.

7. Gamst ed., Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 830.

8. Compare Col. John Hay's epic-style and now politically incorrect Victorian poem "Jim Bludsoe of the Prairie

Belle" in which "a nigger squat on the safety-valve," leading to the destruction by fire of the fictional Mississippi

River steamboat. Best Friend's engineer was seriously scalded. The locomotive was rebuilt and renamed,

appropriately, Phoenix (Gamst ed., Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 330).

9. Not to be confused with another Massachusetts engine named Boston built by Hinkley for the Western R. R.

in 1843.

10. Becker and C. Fisher c1930: 27; Harlow 1946: 86.

11. Levitt (2992: 3) states that Whistler was "built in 1833 . . . ."

12. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002), one of those scholars who makes others think, questions my choice of

Boston & Providence's first three engines, preferring the sequence in C. Fisher (Sep. 1938: 80), i. e., Whistler, which

Fisher (1943-98: 9) says "entered service on the B. & P. R. R." in 1833, Boston and New York, the latter two delivered

in 1835, all three built in England. Fisher lists Black Hawk tenth in order, or ninth of 10 locomotives delivered in

1835. I base my chronological listing of Whistler, Black Hawk and Lincoln on the Anglo-Canadian steam locomotive

authority Westwood (1977-78: 69) who states that Norris and Long built Black Hawk (and presumably delivered it to

B&P, though that too is arguable) in 1833 and that it "ran for barely a year," which places its demise in the Readville

quicksands at 1834, a year before Fisher says it was delivered. Edson (1981: xvi, xvii) says nothing of when Black

Hawk was built or delivered, but states that Lincoln was rebuilt (italics mine) by Norris in 1834, a year before Fisher

says it was delivered. It is clear from the fact of steam service being run between Boston and Readville in June 1834,

when Whistler was still working near Mansfield on the other side of the unfinished Canton viaduct, that B&P owned

at least one other pre-1835 locomotive, whereas Fisher suggests that Whistler was the only pre-1835 machine. I grant

that questions in regard to this sequence of locomotive deliveries remain to be answered.

13. C. Fisher, Sept. 1938: 80; Edson 1981: xvi. Proprietors of Locks & Canals were incorporated in 1792 as a

water power company to build the Pawtucket Canal at Lowell, Mass. The firm was reorganized in 1825. By 1851 it

had been renamed Lowell Machine Shop.

14. C. Fisher (1943-98: 9), referring to the visiting European engineer who listed the locomotives on the Boston &

Providence roster in 1838 and '39, writes, "Von Gerstner . . . correctly states that the "Whistler" was built by R.

Stephenson."

White (1968-79: 7), after writing of the earliest imported engines, says that "Whistler of the Boston and Providence,

[was] among the next locomotives to enter this country from Britain." Two English researchers, one being Michael A.

Bailey, former president of the Newcomen Society and a "consultant in locomotive preservation" who has made an

extensive study of Stephenson locomotives exported to the U. S., the other Stephen Duffell, in an independent study

claim to have found "acceptable evidence" that Whistler was built by Robert Stephenson & Co. in Newcastle upon

Tyne (A. M. Levitt, pers. comms. 1998-99). But mysteries in connection with this locomotive remain.

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Information about Whistler in R&LHS Bulletin 101 (1959) suggests that the locomotive had the Stephenson Works

No. 17 and was built in 1831; this appears not to have been the case.

The Science Museum Library in London has microfilm copies of the Robert Stephenson & Co. "Description

Books," "Order Books" and "Minute Books" covering the period 1830-1875. Unfortunately, these books do not

usually provide sufficient information for their locomotives. The captions "Ordered," "Finished" and "Sent Away" are

given, but not always filled in. "Sent Away" presumably means "Shipped from the works," but it generally is not

known how long individual engines stood on the quay before their ship arrived, added to which was the transatlantic

voyage, wharfside delivery in the U. S., assembling if the engine was sent in "kit" form and shipment to the owners.

Where "Ordered" and "Finished" dates are entered, two to five months elapse between the two (A. M. Levitt pers.

comm. 2002). Neither are the books always in agreement with one another and there is a suspicion that some entries

(especially in the Description Books) were made much after the event, and that Stephenson's numbering of

locomotives has duplications or "re-starts."

T/E (Stephenson's early designation for Travelling Engine) Works No. 17, according to Stephenson's First List, was

ordered by a Capt. Whistler in 1829 for the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., but was lost at sea in a shipwreck and never

delivered. (This engine, according to White 1968-79: 66, would have been America's first 0-6-0 type.) Duffell believes

this Whistler may have been the captain of the lost ship and not the George Washington Whistler associated with both

B&O and Boston & Providence. But G.. W. Whistler, often styled "captain" or "major" though in actuality he was a

lieutenant, went to England in 1828 on behalf of B&O and also served as a field engineer during the building of that

road. In addition, the surname is so uncommon (though Whistler came from a numerous family) I find it too much of a

coincidence to believe that the Capt. Whistler referred to in the Stephenson record books was not the noted civil

engineer of B&O, B&P and other railroads.

Stephenson locomotives manufactured in 1831 are listed in the Second and Third Lists, and here we have two more

engines numbered 17. According to the Second List, T/E Works No. 17 was Samson, built for the Liverpool &

Manchester Ry in England. In the Third List, T/E Works No. 17 appears as Newton, constructed for England's

Warrington & Newton Ry. The only Second List locomotive exported to the U. S. was John Bull (not to be confused

with Boston & Lowell's engine of the same name), shipped unassembled in 1831 to the Camden & Amboy R. R.

According to Bailey the only No. 17 exported to the U. S. was the aforementioned Travelling Engine 17 ordered by

"Capt. Whistler" and lost at sea.

Duffell also questions whether Works Nos. 13 and 14 (not otherwise identified in the Description Books) could be

Whistler, or Meteor of the Boston & Worcester.

Dodd Research Center at University of Connecticut in Storrs has information indicating that Whistler may have

been renamed from Stephenson (although that name might have been taken from the builder's plate on the engine –

this could not have been Boston & Lowell's Stephenson nee John Bull, which was running on that road in 1835-36)

and that it was built by Robert Stephenson & Co. of Newcastle in 1833 (Levitt 1997).

Who actually placed the order with Stephenson when a locomotive was wanted overseas? (a) The ship's captain (a

common practice for consumer goods, some industrial materials and many locomotives)? If so, (b) was the captain

commissioned by a railroad to order an engine from a specific builder, or did he make the choice based on his usual

ports-of-call and port facilities? Or, possibly, (c) did a ship's captain order a locomotive on his own account and then

place it on the market when he returned to American shores? (A. M. Levitt, pers. comms. 1998-99.) C. Fisher (1943-

99: 8), in admitting that he could not always agree with English sources when it came to the records of locomotives

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built in that country for U. S. railroads, noted that American roads often ordered English locomotives through an

importer who in turn bought them through an English agent, which in one case resulted in a railroad receiving engines

from a builder other than the one with whom they thought they were dealing.

Measured in terms of the number of locomotives exported to America, Stephenson was the most successful of the

English builders; his firm supplied 47 locomotives to 19 U. S. railroads (Levitt 1999: 1).

15. White 1968-79: 8.

16. Alexander 1941: 235; White 1968-79: 8n. Locks & Canals, the oldest New England shop involved in building

both locomotives and textile machinery, lost interest in railroad engines and gave up constructing them in 1854

(Lozier 1986: 501) or 1864 (White 1968-79: 8n). During this time they built fewer than 150 locomotives. The first

New England locomotive builder was the Mill Dam Foundry of Boston, which constructed two engines in 1834

(White 1968-79: 14); one of these was Yankee, placed in service by Boston & Worcester 3 July 1834 (C. Fisher 1943-

98: 9).

17. Harlow 1946: 86, who claims John Bull weighed 7 tons.

18. Harlow (1946: 86) says the disassembled John Bull was shipped from Boston to Lowell via the Middlesex

canal, so I have assumed that the knocked-down Whistler, if it was shipped at this time, went the same way. According

to White (1968-79: 8) reassembly work at Locks & Canals took place in 1831 or '32.

C. Fisher (1943-98) is at variance with research done by Bailey and later confirmed by Duffell, who are in

agreement that only one English locomotive was exported to Boston & Lowell and that it was called not John Bull but

Stephenson, built by Robert Stephenson & Co. (Stephenson No. 8 appearing in Stephenson's "Description Book"

Fourth List of Oct. 1831 to Feb. 1832), "sent forward" in Sept. 1832. Bailey and Duffell found no evidence of a

second Stephenson locomotive sent to B&L. The records in England make it appear that Stephenson built three

engines that initially or subsequently were named John Bull. One (Stephenson No. 24) for the "Hudson & Mowhawk"

[sic--Mohawk & Hudson was meant] was finished 25 June 1831 and initially named Robert Fulton; this was rebuilt

and renamed John Bull in 1833 (White 1968-79: 8, 34, 36-7). Another, named No. 1 John Bull (No. 25 on the Second

List but appearing as No. 10 on the "Third List"), was ordered for Camden & Amboy in Dec. 1830, completed by the

builder 18 June 1831, shipped "knocked- down" from Liverpool 14 July 1831 and delivered 4 Sept. 1831 (White op.

cit.: 228-249); presently in the Smithsonian Institution. The third John Bull (No. 112 on the Third List), for

Philadelphia & Columbia, was finished 18 May 1835 and shipped 22 May 1835 (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 1999).

According to Gustafson (1965), John Bull pulled the first regular train between Boston and Lowell 27 May 1835

with George W. Whistler at the throttle. C. Fisher (1943-98: 10), deriving his information from the 1838 U. S.

Treasury Report, lists Stephenson, built by Stephenson at Newcastle, England, on the B&L roster in that year, and says

the engine entered service 27 May 1835; but does not list a John Bull. Goodwin (1967) writes, probably incorrectly,

that “two engines were built in 1831 and purchased [by B&L] from the Stephenson Company. The second locomotive

[the first was called Stephenson], named the „Whistler,‟ was considered to be too light and was renamed „Massachusetts” and sold to the Boston and Providence Railroad.” The English writer Kay (1974: 36) says that Stephenson was running on B&L in 1836; he describes it as having green-painted lagging on its boiler with decorative

black bands. Perhaps John Bull was renamed Stephenson on being reassembled and delivered to B&L; the name John

Bull could not have been popular among New Englanders with their memories of the Revolution and the War of 1812.

Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 302) lists one 10-ton Stephenson engine on B&L's roster in 1839 but does not give its name.

It is outside the province of this history to try to unravel the John Bull/Stephenson confusion. But if only one B&L

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engine arrived aboard Choctaw in 1832, this leaves us with the question: Was there another engine aboard the same

schooner consigned to Boston & Worcester? Continue reading!

19. Gustafson (1965), who also says a sketch of John Bull exists in Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

20. C. Fisher 1943-98: 9, apparently repeating information given in R&LHS Bulletin no. 4. See Goodwin 1967

quote in footnote 17.

21. Harlow (1946: 108-9) says that McNeill christened the engine Whistler in honor of G. W. Whistler; not, as one

might assume, from the fact that it whistled. Although the steam whistle originated in England, Whistler when built

and delivered had no whistle, a device that probably was not applied to an American locomotive until 1836 by

(surprise!) G. W. Whistler at Locks and Canals (White 1968-79: 214-5).

22. C. Fisher 1943-98: 10.

23. The only Boston & Worcester purchase recorded in Stephenson's "Description Books" is Boston (No. 27, Third

List, Third Phase), though other locomotives that evidently went to B&W are not specifically indicated in

Stephenson's records as having been sold to that company (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 1999).

24. Stephenson's Description Books (Third List, Fifth Phase) list a Meteor (possibly construction no. 107) and a

Mercury, Jupiter, Comet, and Rocket (construction nos. 120, 121, 143, and 144). These locomotives are listed by name

but not by purchasing company; "U. S. A." is indicated in the Book for Mercury and Jupiter, while Michael Bailey

lists No. 143 Comet and No. 144 Rocket as Bangor & Piscataquis Pioneer and Number 6 (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm.

1999). Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 350) lists five engines with those names on the Boston & Worcester roster in 1835.

The list compiled by Becker and C. Fisher (c1930: 19, 20, 21, 27 ) is in agreement with Duffell's research; Becker and

Fisher state that Meteor was built (or delivered to B&W?) in 1834, Mercury, Comet and Rocket in 1835 and Jupiter in

1836. C. Fisher (1943-98: 9), again basing his information on the 1838 U. S. Treasury Report, refines this by listing

the following five Stephenson (his reference to Manchester, England, is incorrect) locomotives on B&W in 1838, with

the dates of their first trips on that railroad, taken from company records: Meteor, 2 April 1834; Comet, 21 Jan. 1835;

Rocket, 26 May 1835; Mercury, 20 July 1835; and Jupiter, 5 Aug. 1835. Boston is not listed in any of these three

sources, and C. Fisher (op. cit.: 11) says Meteor, of which he shows a drawing with the comment that its design

appears to predate 1834, was B&W's "first locomotive" and was later sold to the Bangor & Piscataquis, which road, to

make the cheese more binding, was built by some of the same contractors who built Boston & Providence. Perhaps

Fisher means the first locomotive used in regular service – Meteor did make the first scheduled run with a passenger

train in New England 16 April 1834. But what about Boston, which predated Meteor by two years on the B&W and

probably was used in construction service? Or was Meteor the Boston, renamed?

There are in existence three B&W "Fuel Checks" or "Fuel Tickets" dated "186-" and bearing the pre-printed names

Mars, Mercury, and Comet (A. M. Levitt collection 1999), but these may be re-used names.

As mentioned in a previous footnote, Duffell questions whether Stephenson Works Nos. 13 or 14 (not otherwise

identified in Stephenson's Description Books) could be Meteor or Boston & Providence's Whistler (A. M. Levitt, pers.

comm. 1999).

In 1844 Old Colony R. R. (which opened 10 Nov. 1845) purchased Stephenson's 1834 or '35 2-2-0 Comet from

B&W, probably to use as a construction engine; it remained in OC service until 1851 when it was again sold (C.

Fisher Apr. 1938: 38; Edson 1981: xv; Levitt 1999: 4, 5).

24a. After completion of this monograph I learned that my hypothesis is invalid. B&W Boston, Stephenson

construction no. 27, built 1832, 2-2-0, 11x16 cylinders, 60" drivers, was not used by B&W but was rebuilt by the Mill

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Dam Foundry and sold in 1834 to Allegheny Portage R. R. as their first locomotive. (Edson, May and Vail, Steam

locomotives of the New York Central lines; courtesy of R. Fleischer 2008.)

25. Lozier 1986: 414-6.

26. White (1968-79: 323) mentions this "low squatty dome" as applied to the Stephenson-style boiler of an engine

built as late as 1849 by Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Co. for the Hudson River R. R.

27. For the benefit of bolt-counters, of which I confess to being one, I offer the following additional mechanical

data on Stephenson's Planet class as placed in service on Liverpool & Manchester Ry in 1830: Heating surface 407 sq.

ft.; grate area 7.2 sq. ft.; tender capacity: fuel (coke) c2200 lbs, water c480 U. S. gals.; total weight including tender

29,500 lbs.; total length including tender 24 ft 4 in. The original Planet engine differed from Whistler in that it had 62-

inch drive wheels (Hollingsworth and Cook 1987: 30) instead of 60-inch. See C. Fisher 1943-98: 7 for a drawing of a

typical Stephenson 1830 Planet type. White (1968-79: 225) shows an interesting photo of a Stephenson-built "Planet"

2-2-0 type of the Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad & Canal Co. taken c1867 and "thought to be the Meteor, built in

1832 for the Boston and Worcester Railroad." See Dole (1985: 46) for three photographs of, apparently, the same

somewhat modified Stephenson engine at different times in its long life. These rare photos provide a fair idea of how

B&P's Whistler might have looked.

28. Hollingsworth and Cook 1987: 30. English locomotives were designed to burn coke or coal, "undoubtedly

reflecting both the fact that the earliest of them served collieries and coal-winning areas, and that there was not any

abundance of wood in England. . . . I haven't come across anything that indicates that the early English locomotives

shipped to this side of the Atlantic were designed any differently (that is, with fireboxes fashioned to burn wood) than

those for the home market" (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002).

29. Westwood 1977: 70.

30. Boston & Providence R. R, Feb.-Mar. 1835. I will defer until later the question whether the Whistler tested in

1835 was the original Stephenson-built Whistler.

31. The statement by Levitt (ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11) that "the Boston and Providence ordered their first

three locomotives from England (one each from Robert Stephenson's, Edward Bury's, and George Forester's works)"

is, I believe, except for the first named builder, incorrect. The second and third engines in my opinion were built by

American Steam Carriage Co. in Philadelphia.

32. American Steam Carriage Co., later Norris Locomotive Works, was founded in 1831.

Stephen Harriman Long, born in 1784 in Hopkintown, N. H., was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1809.

Following a career as a distinguished educator, in 1814 he joined the U. S. Army as a second lieutenant in the U. S.

Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. For a time he taught at West Point. The army sent him in 1817 to explore the

upper Mississippi and Fox Rivers. In 1820, at which time he was a major, he was sent to survey the plains and

southern Rockies and enjoyed the distinction of having Colorado's highest peak named for him. In 1823 he conducted

explorations in Minnesota. Despite accumulating 26,000 miles on five western expeditions, Long is remembered for

one monumentally bad prediction: he referred to the Great Plains as the "Great American Desert" and pronounced the

whole area unfit for human habitation. Following these adventures, he furthered his fame as a civil engineer and

bridge designer. Between 1827 and 1830 he was one of six surveyors of the planned Baltimore & Ohio R. R. (William

Gibbs McNeill was another) and in 1829 authored a "Railroad Manuel" [sic] which was the first of its kind in the U.

S. In 1830 he was dispatched by the federal government to Maine to assist in surveying a railroad from Belfast to the

Canadian border (Harlow 1946: 309-10). From 1837 to 1840 he served as engineer in chief of Western & Atlantic

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R.R. in Georgia; while there he invented a new kind of bridge truss. His locomotives, of which he built about six,

though innovative and even unorthodox in design were not successful, and their poor performance nearly destroyed

confidence in American mechanics, so that in 1834 he gave up designing engines. Long died in Alton, Ill., 4 Sept.

1864.

33. No successful locomotives were produced under Norris's name until 1836, after he had hired a competent

engineer to replace Long and one other failed designer (White 1968-79: 456).

34. Ringwalt 1888; White 1968-79: 456.

35. Westwood 1977-8: 69. Gerstner (1842-3/1998: 531) speaks of "that difficult-to-ignite fuel, anthracite," and

notes that engines that burned hard coal needed "very large fireboxes" and artificial draft produced by a fan driven by

exhaust steam.

36. Westwood 1977: 69. C. Fisher (Sept. 1938: 80) says Lincoln entered Boston & Providence service in 1835, but

I tend to favor Westwood, who provides details about its construction. Edson (1981) says nothing of Lincoln.

37. Black Hawk (1767-1838), whose real name was Makataimeshekiakkiak, had been war leader of the Sauk and

Fox in western Illinois. After signing away millions of acres of tribal farming and hunting lands in a treaty he did not

understand, he resisted an effort by white settlers to oust his people from the tract. Pursued then by troops, he led his

tribe on a lengthy and in the end unsuccessful fighting exodus that differed only in degree from the better publicized

trek of Chief Joseph 45 years later. His people were massacred while trying to swim the Mississippi and on 27 Aug.

1832 he was captured, put in chains and confined in Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis. Sup't of Indian Affairs William

Clark of Lewis and Clark fame, to impress Black Hawk with the futility of fighting the U. S., sent him to Washington

to meet Pres. Jackson, who hospitably clapped him in a cell in Fortress Monroe, Va. By the time of his release public

opinion had metamorphosed him into a hero, thanks in part to the printing of a noble speech he made to his captors

and the 1833 publishing of his autobiography; and the government took him on two Cook's tours through the principal

eastern cities. In 1834 he attended a one-night-only performance in New York's Bowery Theater of the play Black

Hawk, written about himself. On the second trip, the old chief, his son and their entourage were seen passing through

Mansfield 31 Oct. 1837 aboard a B&P train on their way from Boston back to the West. A year after Black Hawk died

in Iowa, his grave was plundered by whites and his skeleton displayed in a museum that was destroyed by fire in

1855.

Boston & Providence's Black Hawk should not be confused with a more successful engine of the same name built

by Matthias Baldwin for the Philadelphia & Trenton R. R. in May 1835 (White 1968-79: 270).

38. Ringwalt (1888) notes that Black Hawk "performed with only partial success on the Boston and Providence

Railroad . . . ."

39. Speculation exists that Black Hawk possibly was rebuilt, and that previous to its delivery to Boston and

Providence it had been rejected by Boston and Worcester (J. W. Swanberg, pers. comm. 2002, referring to R&LHS

Bulletin 101, Oct. 1959). Confusion may exist with the engine Philadelphia, also built by Norris, which Harlow

(1946: 97, 97n, quoting C. Fisher) says may have been tried out and rejected by B&W before coming to B&P.

40. Westwood 1977-8: 60, 69-70. Long's trick firebox may have been a predecessor of Matthias Baldwin's

detachable firegrate, patented Oct. 1836. Baldwin's brainstorm was that, to make sure a coal-burning engine would

always have a bright clean fire, a new grate with a fresh fire already burning would be set between the rails at each

station and hoisted by means of levers, when the incoming engine stopped, to replace the dirty old fire and grate. This

bright idea seems never to have been put into practice. A. M. Levitt (pers. comms. 1999) says, "Behind me at this

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moment, in a place of pride in my collection, is a 32-1/2-inches long model, from the U. S. Patent Office collection of

J. J. DeHaven's 'Removable Firebox for Locomotives,' which was granted Patent No. 6376 on April 24, 1849. . . . I

had not been aware that DeHaven's – or someone else's – concept had found actual application! The hinged chimney

on Black Hawk is interesting, too! A hinged chimney was fitted in 1894 to the 2-ft. 6-in. gauge 0-4-2ST [saddle tank]

locomotive of the London & North Western Railway, Jim Crow. This locomotive was used for the building of

Standedge Tunnel, and the hinge presumably allowed for operation in restricted head room. . . . There was a linkage

along the top of the water tank by which the driver may have caused the chimney to lower forward on to a 'Y' shaped

bracket on top of the smoke box." The description of Black Hawk's stack does not specifically refer to a hinge,

however. A drawing of an unidentified early English 2-2-0 steam locomotive portrays the capped stack folded back

very close to the horizontal and supported by a vertical bracket rising from near the rear of the boiler. The muzzle of

the folded part of the stack must have projected annoyingly close above the heads of the engine crew. The vertical

section of the stack remaining below the hinge appears to be not over two feet tall, which could have done little for the

draft, but presumably the engine was operated in that mode only intermittently and for very brief periods.

Black Hawk‟s boiler contained two sets of tubes between which was a 20-inch combustion chamber for the gases

and smoke. Attached to the boiler was a fan blower driven by exhaust steam which could be operated by the

engineman “at pleasure.” (Anon., no date.) 41. Lincoln, who hailed from Worcester, Mass., after serving as lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts 1823-24

was elected governor for nine straight terms ending in 1834 (Worcester Telegram and Gazette 15 Nov. 1998). He was

elected first mayor of Worcester 8 Apr. 1848. Popular he may have been, but Harlow (1946: 17) notes that in a verbose

age, Lincoln's verbosity stands out.

42. Here I am speculating again. Fisher (Sept. 1938: 80) claims Lincoln entered Boston & Providence service in

1835. Edson (1981: xvii), however, says Lincoln was rebuilt in 1834. I have assumed, therefore, that this engine

probably was built, like the other Norris & Long machine Black Hawk, in 1833, and that 1835 is the date it was

returned to B&P after being rebuilt. It was gone from the B&P active locomotive roster by 1838 (Fisher 1943-98: 9).

43. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 661) tells, surprisingly, of one case in the Mid-Atlantic states where wood-burning

locomotives were operated at 47% the cost of Norris anthracite-burners. In the Philadelphia area, however, where

anthracite was cheap compared to wood, the use of hard coal was thought to save money (op. cit.: 578). On the

Patterson & Hudson River R. R., because a ton of coal delivered by canal cost the same as a cord of wood, coal was

much less used (op. cit.: 531).

44. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 80; Edson 1981: xvii. Boston, Hartford & Erie was not chartered and organized until

1863, so if C. Fisher and Edson are correct, Lincoln must have languished on Boston & Providence property for 25

years before being sold. The B&P engine Neponset, purchased in 1837, also was sold to BH&E.

45. Such a separation apparently did occur on the early Boston & Providence; the fireman fell through the gap and

was run over and killed by his own train (D. Forbes pers. comm. 2002).

46. Providence Daily Journal 11 Nov. 1837.

47. The military term "brass hats" sometimes is erroneously applied to railroad officials, who were referred to by

their underlings as "brass collars."

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6 – The rum rebellion

A European civil engineer, Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner,[1] who visited the United States

during this pioneer decade of railroading and wrote in detail about what he saw, provides us with

nearly as clear a picture of track laying as if we were standing beside the roadbed watching

McNeill and his merry men at work. A gang of 24 laborers, Gerstner tells us, "can complete

approximately 1,000 feet of superstructure in the course of a summer day." Such a track gang

consisted of six men paid a grand total of $7.50 a day to lay stringers (this was to be the case on

Whistler's Western Railroad and McNeill's Stonington road, neither of which was under

construction as yet; Boston and Providence used stringers only at bridges), six men paid $13.50 to

lay crossties, four men for $8.25 to lay and spike rails, one man paid $1.25 a day for sawing, five

for $6.60 as handymen and two for $6.00 total as overseers.[2] This party of skilled workmen

could advance the track along the prepared roadbed, if all including the weather went well, at

better than one mile per week.

But there were times when all didn't go well. Most of us learned in school about the 1794

Whisky Insurrection when Pennsylvania farmers violently objected to a federal excise tax on the

product of their stills. Not to be outdone by the Keystone State barleycorn lovers, the Irish laborers

on the Boston and Providence Rail Road staged a rum rebellion. It was here that McNeill learned,

if he hadn‟t learned before (and probably he had), that there is more to building a railway than is

taught at West Point or found in the dry pages of civil engineering textbooks.

Railroad construction requires not only money but gangs of workmen, and although many local

men along the line of the proposed road found employment in building it, most of the hundreds of

laborers hired through contractors to do the actual pick-and-shovel work ("navvies," they would've

been termed in England; "tarriers" they came to be called in America[3]) under the direction of

Yankee foremen were mostly Irish immigrants of rather free-spirited temperament. Once they

signed on (by making their "X's" if they couldn't write)[4] they were divided into gangs, as

described above, each gang of 16 to 22 men being responsible for building a certain section of the

railroad. Their contractors received money for the work and out of this paid the laborers.

Many of these Irishmen, who on getting off the ships toted all their possessions in a big bundle

tied to a stick, had come to live in the Fox Point neighborhood east of and across Providence River

from the downtown part of the Rhode Island capital, primarily while building both the Blackstone

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Canal and the southern end of the Boston and Providence. They found a Roman Catholic church

ready and waiting for them, it having been erected in 1813 for the benefit of an earlier and smaller

number of Irish immigrants who settled the Point around 1800.[5] This Hibernian enclave that

hugged the slopes above the waterfront became known as Corky Hill, after the mountainous and

boggy county of Cork in the Munster province of Ireland from which many of these men

hailed.[6]

These Corkies were pre-potato famine Irish who had arrived well before the great exodus of 15

years later, when the Phytophthora infestans scourge known as the potato blight caused more than

a million Irish to die of starvation and at least as many more to flee their homeland. Many, perhaps

most, had been hard-squeezed small farmers; some may have been laborers or fishermen or

worked the marble quarries or anthracite coal or copper mines for which County Cork was noted.

Their singsong accents and oddball brand of humor baffled even other immigrants from the

Emerald Isle. Rowdy and ungovernable as they might appear to Yankee eyes and ears, they were

not as desperately poor or as bludgeoned by circumstance as those who came after; and many, if

later they didn't travel to Maine or Cuba or elsewhere to build other railroads, in less than two

decades would became such settled citizens of New England that they and their offspring

scornfully referred to the potato scourge arrivals as "turks," from the Gaelic torc, a wild boar.[7]

As construction progressed increasingly far from their Fox Point homes, many of the laborers

went to live wherever they could in towns nearest their work, often in low-cost railroad boarding

houses. Others slept on the hay in convenient barns[8] or dwelled in “shebangs” erected on railroad-owned land along the right-of-way. Here, aside from the meals provided by company-

hired female cooks, they ate potatoes and bread, drank water scooped from puddles or from the

drainage ditches alongside the track,[9] warmed their cots by burning bundles of dead sticks

scoffed from the woods of nearby farmers and slept on straw with coats thrown over them for

blankets. There was even a joke among the Yankees that an Irishman who found an old door to

cover him up on cold nights was blessed with an altogether more sybaritic life-style than his less-

fortunate neighbors.

Despite admonishments to the contrary from their priests, they came to the job loaded down

with a baggage of old country superstitions, and fretted about being "overlooked" by those they

imagined possessed the Evil Eye, especially when stared at by a man through nine fingers when

the moon was full, or "Grudgers" who could lay a black curse on man or beast.

If even the civil engineers who laid out the Boston and Providence are now largely forgotten,

these tarriers whose muscular arms wielded the tools that built the road were not remembered in

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the first place. Histories like this one are, as one technological author noted, "strangely barren of

human content." At least we know the names of the engineers and can compile biographical

sketches of them. The equally important workmen, except for some of their grosser acts that were

recorded and passed down with a degree of delight by the Yankee puritans, remain anonymous.

Performing the coarsest kind of labor with no union representation, without vacations or sick leave

or insurance or tender loving on-the-job care of any sort, they deemed building a railroad for cash

wages in a foreign country preferable to their former lives as the virtual bondmen of rack-renting

landlords in the Old World.

We do know that these rough men and their equally rough habits often were deemed quite

unacceptable by the local folk, just as the Yankees and their customs appeared outlandish and not

altogether comprehensible to the Hibernians.[10] As a result, as is apt to be the case where

diversity reigns, almost from the beginning there were labor and other troubles.

Kipling in his poem "Tommy" wrote that "single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints."

Neither did Corkies in construction camps and cheap boarding houses, many of whom spent their

evenings and nights drinking, gambling, fighting and whoring. To make matters worse, it was the

practice of those who employed rough labor in the first half of the 19th century to brighten the

lives of their men with a half pint to a pint of rum or whisky (even the word is Irish-Gaelic: from

uisce beathadh, "water of life") per day during working hours, as well as permitting it in their

shebangs and boarding houses.[11] In fact the workmen considered booze to be part of their wages

– in today's terms, a fringe benefit. Hard drinking provided them a relief from hard labor. But the

effect of this overindulgence (so observed the superintendent of a Rhode Island coal mine who

employed Irish workers) was that hardly a week passed without a brawl involving up to twenty or

thirty men at a time, armed with shovels, picks, axes and whatever other improvised weapons

came to hand.

These problems were not unique to the Rhode Island mines or to the Boston and Providence

Rail Road. Other railways being built in Massachusetts experienced the same spifflicated

rowdiness with their imported work gangs.[12] Having compared notes and agreed that they faced

a common problem, the boards of directors of each of the three Massachusetts rail lines

determined to do away "with the greatest curse ever inflicted on a workman, that of allowing him

liquor while at work." They ordered, in a kind of delusional ivory tower unrealism, that from then

on their employes were to observe strict temperance. On the Boston and Providence, West Pointer

McNeill, not one to cavil at orders from higher up, instructed the contractors that no "spirituous

liquor," otherwise known as "grog," was to be allowed in the construction camps or at the work

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site. Instead, the water boys were to fill the buckets with coffee, cold tea or (the most heinous

insult of all) water.

This cruel and unusual deprivation did not set well with the Corkies who were breaking their

backs in all kinds of weather for $1.25 to $2.25 per ten- or 12-hour day[13] six days a week. Since

the orders had come down to them through their contractors (who generally ate and slept fairly

comfortably at their homes or in taverns along the way), it was the contractors they blamed. The

tarriers demanded that their bosses fill the pails with rum and water, and threatened to throw down

their tools unless they got it. The bosses told them to lay track, drink cold water and be damned.

On Friday morning, 18 April 1834, the most sorely offended of the gangs, which had been at work

in Dodgeville, less than two miles south of East Attleborough, struck for an end to prohibition of

their daily grog, and while at it, to make up for what they were expected to sacrifice in lost drink,

threw in a demand for higher wages.

Their bosses, reluctant to grant requests let alone demands, ordered the strikers off railroad

property. Instead, filled with sore grievances plus an overpowering springtime thirst, they went

rumbling northward along the right-of-way looking either for allies or for someone on whom to

vent their righteous indignation. Soon reaching the next section, nearer Attleborough, they met

another work gang and without undue difficulty persuaded them to join their ranks. Arming

themselves with pick handles, shovels and clubs (fortunately, firearms were not as easily had as

they are now), their numbers snowballed as they went along. They could be quite persuasive;

workers reluctant to join the party did well to escape with their lives. It was a simplistic case of

those not for the strikers being against them. Someone among them got the idea of carrying their

beef to the copper-clad dome of the State House in Boston, so it was toward that shining goal that

they directed their roisterous trek.

Marching along the right-of-way in increasing numbers and with growing thirst and road-rage

through the towns of Attleborough, Mansfield and East Foxborough, they attacked almost

everybody they met, leaving a trail of bloody noses in their wake and creating a reign of terror

through the previously peaceful countryside. The contractors, being their special favorites,

received the brunt of their wrath and some of these were rescued with difficulty, several being

badly mauled. By late in the day, when the strikers reached Sharon, 15 miles and a number of

hours from their starting point and nearly halfway to Boston, their forces had grown to 300 men.

At Sharon the disorderly march erupted into a full-scale riot. After threatening to demolish one

or two structures where they thought some uncooperative workmen were in hiding, the protesters

commandeered several buildings overnight and challenged divil a man to oust them.

106

One can imagine how this scene of mob disorder impacted on the strict military minds of

McNeill, Whistler, Lee and Trimble. Major McNeill, a clean-shaven, hearty-appearing chap with

thick curly hair, does not in the least look like one to roll over and play dead, and next morning he

demanded that the forces of law and order give him and his railroad some protection. The high

sheriffs of Bristol and Norfolk Counties with their deputies were called out but proved not up to

the task. They tried to establish order by reading the Riot Act but the marchers were hardly the sort

to be deterred by having an official paper waved in their faces, and the minions of the law were

howled down and repulsed with many of their number injured. Forced to admit that the mob was

beyond their control, they summoned two volunteer militia companies – the smartly disciplined

Washington Rifle Corps of Attleborough, who sported green uniforms and black-plumed military

caps, and the formidable Stoughton Grenadiers.

Amateur soldiers though these fellows might be, their bayoneted muskets proved too much for

the rioters, who by then must have been getting weary as well as thirsty. The troops arrested the

strike leaders, apparently without shots being fired, and dispersed their followers, while a military

presence established along the right-of-way prevented further disturbances. Nine men were

escorted to Dedham jail. Six more were brought back to Attleborough by troops of the Rifle

Corps, being lodged under military guard at the Wilmarth Hotel, and next morning were hauled

before the District Court, at which they were bound over to the June 1834 session of the Court of

Common Pleas in Taunton.

There, before a jury composed probably not of their peers but of unsympathetic Yankees, the six

men were charged with having made "great noise, tumult, and disturbance for the space of twenty-

four hours," with assault on one William Stall, whom they "did beat, wound, and ill treat" and that

they "did make an assault, beat, wound, and ill treat" one Jacob Stever. In addition, "they did

hinder and obstruck [sic] divers good and peaceable citizens of the Commonwealth in the pursuit

of their usual and lawful occupation, to the great terror of the people."

The jury found all six men guilty of inciting to riot and sentenced them to Bristol County House

of Correction in New Bedford, two of them to hard labor (breaking stone, most likely, not

dissimilar to what they had been doing for the railroad, but without either grog or wages) plus the

$90.20 cost of prosecution. The rest got hard labor, one for a month, the other three for ten

days.[14] Those workmen against whom no charges had been brought were allowed to return to

their jobs and presumably to their pails of water and cold tea. The records do not show whether

they got an increase in pay.[15]

If this unseemly affair left a bad taste in the mouths of the citizens of Attleborough, they hadn't

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seen anything yet. Hard on the heels of the rum rebellion, trouble was to smite that bucolic village

again, in spades!

NOTES

1. A. M. Levitt admonishes me (pers. comm. 2002) that the surname of the visiting Austrian engineer "should be

properly styled as Ritter von Gerstner. . . . Too often the Ritter is forgotten." "Ritter" is a title roughly equivalent to

"knight" or "sir" or if one prefers French, "chevalier." But Gamst, in editing the visitor's 1842-43 opus, repeatedly and

consistently writes simply "Gerstner;" and except in the reference to which this footnote applies, in the interests of

simplicity and with a Yankee disdain for foreign titles I have chosen to do the same.

2. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 358. "When materials were delivered to the site [says Gerstner], a contractor was paid

$640 to $720 per mile to construct the superstructure, for which he was also obliged to keep the track in good

condition for 3 months."

3. "Navvies" (from "navigators") originally were unskilled laborers who dug the English inland canal system;

"tarriers" comes perhaps from a mispronunciation of "terriers."

4. Even as late as 1868 a Boston & Providence payroll shows that “the entire Irish work force could only sign

their name with an X” (Molloy 2003). 5. Although a majority of the early Irish immigrants were Catholics, surprisingly "a considerable proportion" of

those who came to America before 1835 "remained Anglicized Protestants" (Knobel 1986: 45).

6. A city slum clearance project between 1876 and 1880 uprooted many of the Irish families in Corky Hill, the

population of which later became about one-third Portuguese.

7. As early as 1820 to 1824 the Irish outnumbered any other European immigrant group in the U. S., even the

Ulster Scots-Irish and Anglo-Irish (Knobel 1986: 13). Many more came in the late 1820s and 1830s to build canals.

U. S. Census figures show that yearly immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland between 1826 and 1830 averaged

10,798, of whom more than half, however, were women or children and men unable to perform the heavy manual

labor of railroad and canal construction. From 1821 to 1830, 50,724 Irish immigrated to the U. S., and 75,803 from the

British Isles in total. From 1831 to 1840 these numbers swelled to 207,381 and 283,191; 1841 to 1850, 780,719 and

1,047,763; 1851 to 1860, 914,119 and 1,338,093, Thereafter, the number of immigrants from the British Isles fell off.

It was not until the decade of the 1850s that the number of Irish arriving in the U. S. was outnumbered by German

immigrants (Blaine 1884: 632), most of whom settled in the mid-west.

One advantage of these arrivals was that they assured Massachusetts of an adequate supply of workers, usually

difficult to obtain in a relatively new country or in an area where slavery proved uneconomical. The Yankees,

however, showed the Irish minimum respect, referring collectively to the men as "Paddy" and the women as "Bridget"

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(Knobel 1986: 10). Op. cit.: 76 quotes an 1852 American writer named Giles as saying, "'Irish' means with us a class

of human beings, whose women do our housework, and whose men dig our railroads." Yet though often quite poor, on

the whole these earlier Irish were not as impoverished "as the distressed peasants and smallholders" who came after

the beginning of the potato famine (op. cit.: 45).

Thoreau in Walden and in his Journal writes of the Irish shanty-dwellers, and purchased the shack of one such

former Fitchburg R. R. laborer for materials with which to build his own hut at Walden Pond.

Not all these immigrants were looked on by their hosts as untouchables. The first Irishman to arrive in Mansfield

was one John Flahaven or Flaven, and the Mansfield historian notes that he "had an important position on the

[rail]road building and soon many of his friends and relatives followed." As late as 1930 his grandson and a great-

nephew lived in Mansfield and were well regarded (Copeland 1930a).

8. Sheldon 1862/1988: 97. Knobel (1986: after p. 76) shows a photo of a "roster of [Irish] laborers temporarily

domiciled at [a] railroad boarding house" in Hudson, Oh.; 22 men are listed, many apparently related, to judge by the

similarity of last names; one man is from England.

9. The immigrant laborers were not always particular about their drinking water. Thoreau asks (Journal 16 July

1851), "Why will the Irishman drink of a puddle by the railroad instead of digging a well?" And on 14 Apr. 1852 when

he asks the same Irishman "where he gets his water now, seeing that the ditch by the railroad is full of rain-water and

sand, he answers cheerfully as ever: 'I get it from the ditch, sir. It is good spr-ring water . . . .'"

10. The Irish immigrants "occupied new contexts, roles, and relationships within a new environing society" (Wyse

1846 in Knobel 1986: 38).

11. "Among the laboring classes there is not one man in four who does not drink, daily, more than one gill"

(Secretary of War Peter B. Porter to the U. S. Congress 3 Oct. 1829, in Dupuy 1940-43: 155). A gill is a quarter pint, a

modest amount by Corky standards.

12. Nor was the difficulty confined to Massachusetts, the U. S. or to railroads. The immigrant Irish not being of

the temperament to turn the other cheek to rawhiding from the Yankees, Lowell was the scene of a brawl in 1822 in

which Irish canal workers killed a former Revolutionary War hero; and in the same town in 1831 Irish and Yankee

factory workers engaged in a famous battle on the Stone Bridge. Zanetti and Garcia (1987-98: 117) complain that too

many of the Irish laborers brought to Cuba from the U. S. in the late 1830s by yanqui contractors to build railroads in

that Spanish colony "were hardened drunks and turbulent individuals who quickly found their way into the colonial

jails . . . ." Who knows but that some of these tropical tarriers might have been former Boston & Providence rum

rebels?

13. From Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 358; actually pretty good pay for the time. Track laborers ("section men," in

later parlance) on the Boston and Providence in 1839 were paid only 75 to 87 cents per day (op. cit.: 329). By

comparison, Portsmouth, R. I., coal miners in 1827 were paid from 88-1/2 to 92 cents a day, and $1.25 a day in 1850-

51; these wages remained remarkably consistent throughout the 19th century (Chase 1998: 303). Textile mill weekly

wages in R. I. between 1810 and 1830 averaged $5.25 for men working six days a week at 12 to 14 hours per day. In

the supposedly enlightened mill town of Lowell, Mass., adult factory hands worked 11-1/2 to 13-1/2 hours a day for

one to five dollars a week (FWP-RI 1937: 80; FWP-Mass. 1937: 68-9). Workers in general were so degraded and so

fearful of being jailed for debt that even where trade unions were formed, few dared strike.

14. For the 19th century these were not particularly stiff sentences. A Sharon man convicted some years later in the

same century of throwing stones at a Boston & Providence passenger train was sentenced to three years at hard labor.

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15. My account of the rum rebellion is drawn from Dedham Transcript (in Mansfield News 4 Feb. 1887, giving the

start date of the rebellion as 19 April), Copeland 1936 (in which she names the hotel as Wilmouth, but apparently

Wilmarth is correct), 1936-56: 60-1, and 29 Dec. 1955; Belcher 1938: no. 2; and Dix 1966 and 1973. See also the

records of the Court of Common Pleas in Taunton, and the Taunton Independent Gazette 2 May 1834 Miss Copeland

notes that accounts of this event are not to be found on the Gazette's front page, which together with most of the space

on the other pages was reserved for complaints about waste and extravagance of the Jackson administration in

Washington (what else is new?). The town militia companies were somewhat equivalent to the present National

Guard. The Washington Rifle Corps is sometimes called the Attleborough Rifle Company.

Railroad work could build up a powerful and undiscriminating thirst, as Miss Copeland (1936) learned from a story

in the Boston Transcript for April 1834. "One of the [rum] rioters, the paper relates, went to the Lafayette Hotel in

Providence and sat in the bar room until eleven o'clock. He then asked for lodgings and was shown a chamber in the

attic. When he awoke in the morning he spied a bottle in the corner of the attic, and thinking it would furnish him his

morning dram, drank the entire contents . . . . When he went downstairs he was observed to be making frequent trips

to the pump, and drinking great quantities of water. Soon he seemed to be in great distress and medical aid was called.

It developed that the bottle contained bug poison, consisting of New England rum and corrosive sublimate. The doctor

administered three dozen raw eggs and a corresponding quantity of lamp oil, with other remedies. That evening the

patient was considered well enough to be removed to South Boston. Rather a tedious journey from Providence it must

have been in those days, before the railroad was completed. The last report we have was that he was still in great

danger . . . ."

110

MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD,

AND CONNECTING LINES,

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Part Two

Harry B. Chase, Jr., 2006

____________________

7 – The Attleborough Kirk Yard affair

Kirkyard is an old Scottish term, imported by the Puritans to New England, meaning a cemetery

attached to a country church or kirk. About one-eighth of a mile northeast of the center of East

Attleborough there was and is a kirk yard. This colonial burying ground, consecrated in 1744, in

which year it also received its first interments, lay behind the Second Congregational Meeting

House, popularly called The Old White Church.[1] Among the duties of the members of the second

or East parish was the perpetual care of this graveyard, which at that time stretched almost to the

Common. The cemetery was called (and usually capitalized as) the Old Kirk Yard. As chance or

engineering would have it, the straight-line craze that possessed the builders of the Boston and

Providence was about to put a railroad almost right through the middle of this sacred spot.

The historian Gibbon tells us that the ancient Roman roads "ran in a direct line from one city to

another with very little respect for the obstacles either of nature or private property." So it had been

with the unsuccessful Boston-to-Rhode Island turnpike and so it was now with the Rail Road.

Probably the first obvious warning sign to the people of Attleborough was McNeill's survey line,

marked by a parade of wooden stakes passing among the slate or marble headstones and over the

mounded graves. Add to that the slow but inexorable head-on approach of the graded right-of-way

111

from the south, steadily chewing its way through the rural landscape of Hebronville and along the

Ten Mile River at Dodgeville, and the local citizens, still steamed about the rum rebellion of a

couple of months before, must have felt this latest intrusion to be the limit of high-handedness.

They reacted quickly. John Daggett, a respected Attleborough lawyer, legislator and historian who

served as chairman of the Massachusetts Great and General Court's Committee on Railroads, had

been among the first to oppose the route because of its threat of disturbing the graves. He argued also

that a railroad should never be allowed into a growing village because of its inconvenience and the

danger of accidents. (Thoreau would note, however, that even four-year-old Concord children who

chose to walk the Fitchburg Railroad on their way to school at least had sense enough to keep to the

left-hand track[2] – "against the current of traffic," railroad men say – just as pedestrians on a

modern highway stay to the left if they value their safety. But the Boston and Providence was being

built with only a single track.) Perhaps Daggett's dislike of the railroad is why he never once

mentions it in his 1834 history of Attleborough.

The real war began in 1833 when the corporation served notice on the various owners of burial

lots that construction work would commence across what is now Park Street and through the Kirk

Yard in the last week of June 1834 and that "unless they would consent to the removal of their dead,

workmen would pull up the grave stones and construct the road over the graves." The existence of an

old Massachusetts law making it a felony to desecrate the "sepulchres of the dead" clearly made no

difference to the undeviating plans of the railroad's directors, who felt they had the right of eminent

domain through the land of the deceased as well as of the living.

The entire community rose in righteous wrath against the corporation. Ministers attacked the

heartless proposal from their pulpits. Men and women alike protested. For nearly 90 years the

families of East Attleborough had buried their loved ones in the Old Kirk Yard and could not

imagine having to dig them up and remove them. Pamphlets (two of them written by Daggett) were

circulated, filled with fighting phrases:

Has it come to this? Is there no place in this wide world where the bones of the dead can rest in peace?

Can they spare us no place on earth which shall be privileged from intrusion; where we can feel an

assurance that the hand of violence or cupidity shall not disturb the ashes of our kindred? Will it be

permitted in a community of humane feelings, that a body of men, strangers to the people in the

vicinity, and having no interest or sympathy with them, may trample with impunity on the graves of

our fathers? And all this to gratify the pride or caprice, and promote the interest of a wealthy

corporation?

This is not the worst. A few of our own neighbors have been concerned in the transaction. Will it be

112

believed by succeeding generations that men (hitherto regarded as men of feeling) could be found in

this town, who, from selfish or worse motives, were willing to lend their influence, and combine with a

foreign [sic!] corporation to disturb the repose of the dead? Yet such is the fact.

In September 1833 seven men from the second parish were chosen as a committee to try to head

off the unheard-of sacrilege. They sent a number of resolutions to the directors of the “foreign

corporation,” including the following:

Burial places have always been regarded by all nations and in all ages as sanctuaries, as spots

privileged from intrusion of the business concerns of life. . . . Such places possess, in the view of even

the most barbarous nations, a sort of religious sacredness. . . . No pecuniary damages can ever

compensate for the injury of feeling which permiscuous [sic] disinterment of the remains of several

generations must create.

The committee also addressed a petition to both houses of the General Court, asking that the

desecration of the Old Kirk Yard be halted. To no avail; state legislators and railroad directors were

different pockets in the same pair of pants, and the Court admitted its powerlessness in the face of a

law that gave the corporation the authority to condemn a right-of-way wherever it pleased. Neither

the resolutions nor the petitions had any effect. The “foreign corporation” informed the people of Attleborough that if the track was not allowed to run through the graveyard, there would be no

trains, and this would write off the town as an important commercial center. Like it not, the track was

coming through whether the quick or the dead were in its way.

When legal means fail the people, they must resort to other methods. As the construction gangs

drew near, residents of East Attleborough village, particularly those who had family members buried

in the Old Kirk Yard, armed themselves with clubs and stones and formed a cordon, warning the

workers to stay away. But as the directors and engineers were not deterred by the words of the

Attleborough citizens, neither did the rock-fisted track-layers intend to be cowed by sticks and

stones.

A more than usually hard-nosed tarrier "standing in the shadow of the Second Parish church"

drove his spade into the cemetery turf. The act struck the assembled Attleborough citizens like a chip

on the shoulder, or, as the Corkies might have put it, like "treading on the tail o' me coat." A barrage

of stones flew through the air; sticks rose and fell. The Irishmen and their foremen, forced under fire

to admit the validity of the old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones," shielded their heads

with their shovels and retreated. But again, as during the late rum rebellion, of which many of the

113

laborers were veterans, the corporation called out the sheriffs and their deputies, this time in the

Corkies' favor. Under their protection, a few days later, the workmen began pulling up the

gravestones and removing the burials, relocating the coffins in the area to the rear of the present

brick church and leaving a vacant tract that is now the Common at Pleasant and Park Streets.

Most of those who owned burial lots in the Kirk Yard, faced with the inevitable, rather than have

trains trample over the bodies of their dear departed, reluctantly had agreed to allow their dead to be

removed. The railroad company offered and paid a very generous compensation for this intrusion,

but most felt that no amount of money could make up for the desecration of the burying ground, and

hard feelings remained. Neither were the townspeople overwhelmed with appreciation when the

company bought and gave to the parish a tract of land on the far side (toward Bank Street) of the Old

Kirk Yard, west of the railroad, for the transfer of bodies that otherwise would have remained

beneath the rails.

In all, 150 remains were moved from the right-of-way itself. But many of the dead for various

reasons (perhaps because no survivors remained) were not dug up and transplanted; while some

families whose kin were buried in what became a small triangle cut off by the track from the rest of

the Kirk Yard left the bodies where they were, the stones standing forlornly for decades until they

toppled and disappeared. Still others, feeling that graves should not be disturbed, refused to have

their dead removed; and soon the little engine Whistler trailing its cars of dirt, rock, ties and rails was

tramping triumphantly across their unmarked burials, reminding one of Verse XVII from Fitzgerald's

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

And Bahram, that great Hunter – the Wild Ass

Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.

To this day it‟s possible that Amtrak's 150-mile-per-hour Acela electric trains zip over an unknown

number of graves – sleepers more deeply and one hopes more permanently buried than the concrete

ones that support the rails.[3]

No wonder the Boston and Providence became unpopular, with its cavalier attitude of "the public

be damned" more than four decades before railroad magnate William H. Vanderbilt, the son of the

redoubtable "Commodore," is said to have coined the unforgettable phrase! (In fairness to

Vanderbilt, the expression attributed to him is usually quoted out of context.)

Commenting on this desecration was a crusty Revolutionary War veteran named Elijah Dean who

114

perhaps fancied himself the poet laureate of Mansfield; and if effort and sheer volume of output be

accepted as the criteria, he qualified in spades, because some time after the Old Kirk Yard affair –

probably in 1836 – he dipped his quill pen into a bottle of India ink and created an opus of 198

wrathful stanzas directed against his pet peeve the Boston and Providence. He liked to refer to the

railroad as "Hell," but being a proper puritanical Yankee concerned about the sensitivities of his

readers he always dropped the middle two letters, so that the naughty word came out "H--l."

Mansfield historian Jennie Copeland remarks that having read his work, one "may understand why

Mr. Dean could not look at the coming of the railroad with a prophetic eye and welcome it as a

blessing to mankind."[4]

There wasn't one d--n thing about the Boston and Providence Rail Road that Dean liked, but the

defilement of Attleborough's Kirk Yard particularly irked him, so that he wrote:

H--l next went through the burying place,

Where death has left its station,

Which will eternally disgrace

The rail-road corporation.

They robbed the place for sake of pelf,

Which seems much like dissection;

It almost took from God himself,

A job of resurrection.

As a direct result of the Attleborough Kirk Yard affair, the Massachusetts General Court in 1834

passed new legislation forbidding future desecration of that sort anywhere in the state.

Ironically, some time after the road was completed, the company's high brass admitted that "their

early procedures were unnecessary" and that they could just as well have used one of the proposed

alternate routes through Attleborough. John Daggett's daughter Amelia (Daggett) Sheffield wrote

that "it was long ago acknowledged by the railroad company that Mr. Daggett was right" in claiming

that there was no need to lay tracks roughshod through the village center. [5] And train travel

became so convenient that even those who swore they would never get aboard a Boston and

Providence car were soon buying tickets and making frequent trips.

* * *

115

More significant to New England railroad history than the Old Kirk Yard rumpus were several

events in spring of 1834. The Western Railroad Corporation was chartered 15 March to build a line

from the proposed Boston and Worcester terminal in Worcester through the Berkshires to the New

York state border, aimed in the direction of Albany.[6] And on 16 April, the first passenger train in

scheduled revenue service in the six-state area ran over the completed portion of the Boston and

Worcester, with the Stephenson-built engine Meteor proudly on the point.

The Worcester road, having been completed as far west as Newton, had first tested Meteor on 17

March.[7] On 4 April they tried the engine once again, using it to pull a gravel train,[8] and on the

7th made an experimental run from Boston to Davis's Tavern in West Newton.[9] Each of these trials

was to be touted as New England's first steam run, but of course they were not – steam engines such

as Whistler, Lincoln, Black Hawk and others had been puttering around in work service for a couple

of years. The two round trips a day that commenced 16 April between Boston and West Newton

were more of the nature of excursion runs. The first printed New England railroad schedule appeared

in the Boston Mercantile Journal on the 17th.[10] Boston and Worcester's opening, even if rails

hadn't yet come near the latter city, was most welcomed by Bay State residents because the success

of the Baltimore and Ohio already had been confirmed.[11]

Of even more importance to this history of the Boston and Providence Rail Road was the decision

to construct the "Great Stone Bridge" (as it was called at first) at Canton. On Sunday the 20th of

April, only two days after the kick-off of the rum rebellion, the dedication stone of the mighty

viaduct was laid.[12] A block of granite had been prepared on which were inscribed the names of the

top officials of the road:

This Viaduct Erected by the

B. & P. R. R. Coy

Directors T. B. WALES, Pret

W. W. WOOLSEY. P. T. JACKSON.

J. W. REVERE. J. F. LORING

C. H. RUSSELL. C. POTTER. J. G. KING[13]

The reverse side of the block is lettered:

FOUNDATION STONE LAID

APRIL 20, 1834

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This dedication stone originally was set in the west parapet wall at the southern end of the bridge.

In 1860, when the viaduct was being double tracked, the parapet was removed to make room for the

extra width required, and the stone, along with others, was dumped thoughtlessly overboard and

broke in several pieces when it struck the ground. After 20 years of reposing forgotten in a field, in

1880, during a renovation to replace the wooden fence with one made of iron, two parts of the stone

were recovered (the others were never found), squared off, joined with iron straps and cement,

leaving a crosswise crack through the names of Woolsey and Jackson, and placed on the bridge

immediately west of the tracks, just north of its north end, that is, the end nearest Canton Junction

station, mounted on a base with the directors' names facing east.[14]

As I have told earlier, the original idea of crossing the natural cleft formed at Canton by the East

Branch of Neponset River, then called Canton River, by means of a pair of inclined planes was

dropped like a hot potato when the directors and engineers heard about the fatal plunge on the

Granite Railway. Instead, they elected to take the very costly and difficult step of joining the two

sections of the railroad with a stone bridge. A Canton historian notes, "It was one of the wonders of

its day and is still referred to in engineering schools as a fine example of engineering skill. The first

of its kind, it was pure guess-work in planning what load it would carry in years to come, and it has

been subjected to tests undreamed of when begun in 1834."[15]

To Canton, with its population of a little over 1500, the viaduct was quite the biggest thing ever

undertaken within the town. It still is a big thing. On my earliest train trips from Mansfield to Boston

more than 75 years ago I can recall my father telling me to "Watch for the viaduct," and even today

commuters and Amtrak passengers are well aware of passing over it as they look down on trees,

streets and the roofs of houses – and, incidentally, fret about the tilting of the coaches on the

superelevated curve and the apparently unsafe condition of the rusty iron fence railing, which is in

no way an integral part of the granite bridge structure (and since this writing has been repaired).

Major William Gibbs McNeill somehow managed to take time from building the Stonington

railroad to continue his service to Boston and Providence as chief engineer in charge of the design

and construction of the viaduct, assisted by W. Raymond Lee and George Washington Whistler.

McNeill and Lee lived at that time in nearby Dedham.

The Boston construction firm of Dodd and Baldwin won the contract and was hired to build the

viaduct, following specifications prescribed by Major McNeill in his report of 1 June 1834, in which

literally no stone was left unturned:

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It is understood that the said viaduct shall commence at a point 10.5 feet north-east of station

marked 670, of the centre line of the Boston and Providence Rail Road, and extend 613.5 feet on said

centre line, to a point three feet south-west of station marked 676, crossing the mill-pond of the Stone

Factory, so called: that the said viaduct shall terminate at each end by an abutment and circular

wing walls: that the basement wall shall, in every part, be laid on a solid foundation – shall extend

entirely across the base of the structure, and project from 1 to 2 feet beyond the exterior face of the

superstructure, as may be directed.

The said basement wall shall be constructed of the best dry masonry, and the stone of such

dimensions as shall be approved by the Agent or his assistant; the said basement wall shall in every

part commence at least 3 feet below the surface of the earth, except where solid rock shall be

encountered, and shall be raised to such elevation as the Agent or his assistant may direct.

The superstructure shall consist of two walls, extending the entire length of the viaduct, connected at

intervals of 27-1/2 feet by buttresses 5-1/2 feet thick, extending transversely across the walls, and

projecting 4 feet beyond their faces – the main walls to be 4 feet thick, 4-1/2 feet below the grade of

the Road, at all points, and to have a battre on their exterior faces of 1 foot in 48 feet, or 1 inch to 4

feet – the interior faces to be perpendicular, and to have a clear of 4 feet; the exterior faces of the

abutments and buttresses to have a battre conforming to the faces of the walls, viz: 1 foot to 48 feet.

There shall be one arch for a road-way, situated near station marked 674, the span of which shall be

22 feet – (the distance between the buttresses at this point shall be 26 feet, to conform thereto) – and

seven arches of 8 feet span each, for the passage of the water in the pond. The impost of the arch over

the road-way shall be at least 12 feet from the surface of the road – the arch semicircular, and the

voussoirs or ring stones 2 feet long, and not less than 15 inches thick; the intrados and vault of the arch

to have the same character, and dressed to conform in appearance to the exterior surface of the walls;

each arch over the pond to be situated midway between two buttresses – the imposts to be at least 6

feet above the surface of the water when the pond is full; the voussoirs to be 18 inches long, and not

less than 12 inches thick, and the intrados and vaults of the same character as that of the road-way.

The entire superstructure shall be constructed of the best range work, laid in mortar; the beds, ends,

and 1 inch round the faces of the stones, dressed; each and every stone in a range, shall have an

equable bearing, and shall not have a rise of less than 16 inches; the stones in each course shall have a

rise equal to the face stone of that course; all inequalities or cavities, formed by the irregular ends of

the large stones, to be filled with small stone and mortar, and made solid. The ranges in no instance to

be broken between the buttresses, but shall extend so as to include one buttress at least. There shall be

a sufficient number of headers in each range to secure the stability of the work, and placed at such

intervals as the Agent or his assistant shall direct; and stone not less than 7 feet in length, and of

sufficient thickness, shall be placed at intervals between the buttresses, as binders, to unite the two

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main walls, and projecting into the wall 18 inches beyond the interior faces.

The exterior surface of the abutments and wing walls, shall be similar [to] the exterior surface of the

main walls of the superstructure, and the stone forming the faces of the same laid in mortar; the stone

of the interior of the wing walls shall be laid dry – but in every other respect shall conform to the

general character of the superstructure, viz: of the best range work, each stone having a solid bed and

bearing, and of dimensions suitable to range with the stone forming the face of the course.

The buttresses shall be carried up to within 7 feet of the grade of the Road, where an impost,

projecting about 6 inches, shall be laid, and arches, forming an arch of a circle, with verse sines of 4

feet each, shall be sprung up from buttress to buttress, the voussoirs of which shall be 18 inches

through, and the character of the work similar in all respect to the arch over the road-way.

The entire superstructure to be surmounted by a coping 18 inches thick, projecting 1 foot beyond the

exterior faces of the ring stones of the arches, and formed of stone of such dimensions as the Agent or

Engineer or his assistant may direct, and the seams of the coping stones shall be filled and closed with

such cement as shall be durable and impervious to water.[16]

The engineering station numbers given by McNeill show that the Viaduct was to extend from

669+89.5 feet (12.687 miles) to 676+03 feet (12.804 miles), or a distance of 613.5 feet, which is in

fact the actual length of the viaduct.[17] It is interesting that although McNeill supposedly set

kilometer posts when he built the line, his viaduct survey was measured in feet from a zero point in

Roxbury, and indeed all his engineering reports ignored metric dimensions. It also is odd that the

dedication stone was laid over a month before the engineering specifications were dated, but I

suppose one can't blame the directors for looking ahead.

This was a formidable piece of work for its day. I have heard the valid argument that the viaduct,

with its blind arches, is not a bridge but a wall. Actually, as McNeill's specs make clear, it is a double

wall. To the nearby residents of Canton, whose view down the pleasant vale of the East Branch was

to be forever shut off, it doubtless appeared as a wall of the Chinese variety.[18]

The first step (and one overlooked by historians) toward building the viaduct was to construct

earth fills extending from the lips of the vale as far as possible toward the center, so as to keep the

stonework to a minimum length; these reached a height of more than 60 feet. The north and longest

fill was built probably by having the engine Black Hawk gingerly shove cars of earth and rock out

onto rails laid on a spidery trestle built (as Abraham Lincoln once said of another such temporary

bridge) of "bean-poles and cornstalks" and dumping them, burying the trestle work as they

progressed. (What a shame photography was not around to record this and the bridge-building

process!) When these two mighty embankments had been carried as far as practicable, about 2000

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linear feet in aggregate, containing by my ballpark estimate a quarter million cubic yards of earth

and rock, the quarrying and masonry work for the viaduct itself began.

This labor of building the bridge was performed by two groups, both immigrants: the cutting of

stone by Scots, and the rough placing of it by Irish, who also were to lay the gravel roadbed atop the

viaduct. The Irish lived in shanties at Dunbar's Ledge, a mile and a half south of Canton, while the

Scots dwelled at their place of work, Dunbar's Quarry, near Washington and Dunbar Streets in

Canton. These two camps got along about as well as might be expected, which is to say, hardly at all.

The Scots drank barley beer, the Irish rye whisky. The result was that at least twice the militia, who

must have been getting used to such peace-keeping duties involving the Boston and Providence, had

to be called out to suppress violent Saturday evening shemozzles between the two nationalities. After

one such lively social event, a leader of the Hibernians, like labor chief Jimmy Hoffa, vanished. It

was never learned whether he was built into the viaduct, set afloat down the Canton River or merely

walked off into the sunset in disgust.

The rough stone for the bridge at first was cut at Dunbar's, situated about 1-1/4 mile south-

southeast of the viaduct site near the Sharon-Stoughton town line not far from Cobb's Corner. This

stone was dragged by oxen to the construction site. The quarry, which was calculated to contain

sufficient reserves to build the entire bridge, produced an ancient Proterozoic Dedham Granite,

coarse-grained, pale pink, and with so low an iron content that it did not discolor when weathered.

However, it proved difficult to finish, so it was used only for the foundation and the inner backings

of the viaduct where it would not be seen.

A nicer grade of granite, suitable for facing purposes, was discovered in Sharon, a mile southeast

of Massapoag Pond and 1.15 mile southwest of the summit of Rattlesnake Hill (also known as

Drake's or 'Bijah's Mountain after a prominent nearby resident, Abijah Tisdale), on property of

Robert E. Morse. A roadway was built so that the heavy blocks, which were shaped to dimension

before leaving the quarry to avoid hauling the extra weight, could be moved on ox-drawn sleds or

flatbed wagons[19] to the railroad at a point near the summit of Sharon hill, a distance of 2-1/2 or 3

miles. There, the stones were gripped by scissors-like iron "nippers" suspended from a heavy chain

and loaded by crane aboard a small flatcar that then, after several men started it with a push, rolled

downgrade over temporary rails, controlled by an adventurous employe leaning on a hand brake

lever, for four more miles to the south end of the viaduct. An old white horse named Charlie also

rode the car on the down trip, enjoying the mane-ruffling breeze in summer and (one hopes) warmly

blanketed in winter, and, after the rock was hoisted clear, dismounted and pulled the empty car back

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to the loading derrick atop the hill, faithful to his monotonous daily duty for 15 months. (But he

would get his reward!)

This second quarry, called Moyle's or "the Welsh quarry" after a man of that nationality who once

owned or worked it, is to be found in woods on the northeast side of the Borderland State

Reservation, a little more than a half mile from the nearest road. The way over which the stones were

toted, leading from the east side of the quarry, is now a cartpath partly overgrown by dense woods, in

places sunken or depressed between two banks, as if worn by the passage of heavy loads or cut down

to make hauling easier. A nearby brook flowing northwesterly toward Massapoag Pond was dammed

apparently to dry the swamp through which the roadway runs. The quarry, a jumble of walls and four

adjoining flooded pits of differing heights and depths, with broken "snecks," "spalls" and large and

small discarded blocks of rock strewn about, is excavated into the Rattlesnake Hill Pluton, which

consists of an intrusive coarse-grained biotite-granite of Devonian age.[20]

The contractor was merely given access to the Dunbar and Moyle quarries and had to deliver the

stone to the construction site at his own expense. One "perch" (usually 24-3/4 cubic feet weighing

more than two tons, but variable) of stonework cost $5, but for the vaulting cost $11.[21] By my

calculations about 4000 perches were quarried at the Moyle pits. Although the blocks of granite

differed considerably in size (some were over six feet long), the average of the blocks, as determined

by my own measurements at the viaduct, appears to be about 21 by 21 by 46 inches, which at 168

pounds per cubic foot would weigh nearly a ton.[22]

The Scots who cut the stones were Freemasons[23] and each man chiseled his individual mark on

the blocks as a record of his work output for the use of the paymaster. These marks, which vary in

size and shape according to the taste and skill of the workmen, can be seen on many of the face

stones of the viaduct today – 48 different markings have been identified, though some of the marks

are hidden. The Irish who with the aid of cranes muscled the stones into place and then mortared the

joints worked from wooden scaffolds erected on either side of the bridge.

The iron work for the viaduct was done mostly by veteran blacksmith Daniel Fuller, whose shop

was situated just below the Stone Factory in Canton.

* * *

We already have seen how, because the charter granted the Boston and Providence by the

Massachusetts General Court permitted construction only within that state and because Rhode Island

had first granted but then retracted a matching charter authorizing an end-to-end extension into

Providence, the railroad's south end still terminated on the east or left bank of Seekonk River in the

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town of Seekonk. In fact the line as it existed might as well have been called the Boston and

Seekonk Rail Road, though that name sounded neither as impressive nor as euphonious.

With railroad construction coming at them from two directions and perhaps feeling left out of the

loop, the Providence politicians, reluctantly recognizing the hard truth that by terminating at

Seekonk the line from Boston would be able by means of ferry connections with the Stonington road

to bypass their city altogether, decided to make lemonade out of the lemon that was being handed

them. Even so, a good deal of heated bickering and argument went on before the Rhode Island

General Assembly gave in and at their 10 May 1834 session belatedly granted a new charter

authorizing the renamed Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company, which by

state edict had been stalled for nearly three years, to continue the railroad by building a movable

bridge across the Seekonk River, with a depot at India Point, situated where the river empties into

Providence Harbor, and to construct warehouses and waterfront facilities. This company was

officially organized 9 August 1834 to execute that charter.[24] But for months after that date no

railroad bridge was built, and the southern segment of the Boston and Providence still came to an

abrupt end at the Seekonk shore.

But now another newsworthy event occurred. On 4 June 1834, a Wednesday, the Boston and

Providence Rail Road's northern segment opened for revenue traffic– at least, part way.

NOTES

1. The cemetery was laid out 16 Oct. 1744, when the members of the East Parish "Voted to have a Burying Place in

the Meeting House lot, and that it should be at the Northwesterly corner of said lot." The "Meeting House Lot" had been

purchased earlier by the Parish and consisted of two acres. Construction of the original Second Congregational meeting

house had commenced in fall of 1743 "on the Plain where the roads meet or cross each other" but was not finished until

about 1748. In 1825 a new white wooden church with a tall steeple, standing just west of the previous one, replaced it

(Daggett 1834: 62-4), and this Old White Church was the East Parish meeting house that greeted the surveyors of the

Boston & Providence R. R. The present brick church with its familiar square-topped tower visible from the trains was

built in 1904. The Old White Church was allowed to stand until the 1950s. In 1871, when the branch railroad from

Attleborough to Taunton via Chartley was built, 175 more graves were removed from the beleaguered cemetery. The

residents of Attleborough, for all their fulminating against the rail invasions, do not seem to have cared much more for

the Old Kirk Yard than did the railroad company. Many stones have been tipped over and broken, others are reported to

have been moved or stolen. There are graves without stones – as many as 500 to 600 unmarked burials – and stones

without graves, the bodies originally lying under them having been removed. The last of the 1219 identified and

confirmed interments was made in the 1940s. The cemetery is now closed but may still be found off Park Street in rear of

the Second Congregational Church, adjacent to and west of the railroad. The track sliced through the graveyard for a

distance of about 475 feet.

122

My account of the Old Kirk Yard affair is drawn from Belcher 1938: no. 2; Harlow 1946: 107-8; Dix 1967 and 1970;

Harrington 1994; LaBounty 1998; and Corrigan 2001.

2. Thoreau (Journal 28 Nov. 1850) offered what he thought was relatively safe advice for school children:

And if I meet the cars

I get on the other track,

And then I know whatever comes

I need n't look back.

3. The New-York, Providence & Boston ("Stonington railroad") when built through Rhode Island in 1835 was to

meet a lesser but similar problem, though the corporation handled it more tastefully. Just east of Westerly the survey line

led through the small private burying ground of the Chapman family. Repeated offers to purchase the little plot being

rejected, the company preserved and tended the one remaining grave, and as recently as 1945 the New Haven Railroad,

inheritors of the Stonington road, still faithfully looked after the spot (Hubbard 1945: 243-244, who lists six cemeteries

within the U. S. that are or were bisected by railroads ). On the other hand, the citizens of Pittsfield, Mass., obligingly

allowed the Western R. R. to be built through a graveyard (Harlow 1946: 108).

4. Copeland (1931a) reported that a printed pamphlet containing this poem was in possession of Elijah Dean's

granddaughter, Miss Aletta Friscone Dean (1854-1937), a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a lady of quiet

scientific accomplishments in the field of microscopic freshwater plant and animal life, who in my boyhood lived at the

corner of West and Dean (named for the family) Sts. in Mansfield in the same house where her poetaster grandfather

dwelled a century before. We are not through hearing from Mr. Dean, who has much more to say.

5. Harrington 1994.

6. Freeman c1930: 7. In a repeat of the Stonington railroad interstate deal that differed only in location, the New

York state legislature had agreed in 1828 that if Massachusetts were to build a railroad to the New York state border,

New York would see that it was continued to the Hudson River. This line, the Hudson & Berkshire R. R., was opened 29

Sept. 1838 (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 273, 276).

7. OFA 1853: 11; Snow, date unknown. C. Fisher (1943-98: 9) says corporate records show that Meteor's first trip

took place 2 April 1834. If we exclude the construction engine Boston, Meteor was the first locomotive to enter service

on Boston & Worcester.

8. Harlow 1946: 97, q. v. after p. 274 for a portrait of Meteor and also C. Fisher 1943-98: 11 for picture of same

engine, which he says was "the railroad's first locomotive . . . ." White (1968-79: 225) shows an interesting rare photo of

an engine believed to be the rebuilt but still cabless Meteor on the Bangor & Piscataquis R. R. & Canal Co. at about the

time it was retired in 1867.

9. For the two April trials see Humphrey and Clark 1985: 21.and Snow, date unknown.

10. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 5, 6, and 1986: 11.

11. Yamaji 1998.

12. Information relating to Canton viaduct in this and a subsequent chapter has been drawn mainly from Gerstner

1842-3/1997: 323-4; Francis 1945; Cash 1952; Burrows 1980; Diamond 1986: 6-7; Cook 1987: 19-23; Galvin 1987: 2-4;

and Canton Historical Society, undated. Cook contains some fine photographs of the viaduct.

13. Canton Hist. Soc., undated. As an example of the relative illegibility of the inscription on the stone, in my 1966

notebook I list the last three names as H. Russell, J. Potter and C. King. Maybe this was about the time I decided I

needed glasses, or perhaps I was in a hurry to get off the viaduct. The names of Woolsey and Jackson are obscured by a

123

horizontal crack in the stone but can be made out if the lettering is studied closely enough. Wales in Dec. 1835 was

elected president of the Western R. R. Corp. (Freeman c1930: 7; Harlow 1946: 121) and besides that, in 1836 was to

become president of Taunton Branch R. R. Woolsey, Russell and Potter besides being directors of Boston & Providence

also were directors of the Boston & Providence Rail Road & Transportation Co. (of Rhode Island). Joseph Warren

Revere was, as previously noted, owner of Revere Copper Works in Canton and a son of the famous Paul Revere.

14. Canton Hist. Soc., undated. This stone measures 5 feet wide by 3 feet high and 1-1/2 feet thick and being granite

would weigh about 3800 pounds. In 1993, when the viaduct was renovated to hold the electric catenary structures, the

stone was removed and placed atop a monument in Canton Viaduct Park, near the bridge.

15. Canton Hist. Soc., undated. One has to be careful about "firsts" or “primary assertion.“ Canton viaduct was not the first of its kind in the U. S., that honor being taken by Baltimore & Ohio's Carrollton viaduct, 312 feet long, 51 feet

high, completed in 1829 and still in use as a railroad bridge. Its single 100-foot span crosses Gwynn's Falls, a minor

creek (Cook 1987: 18). The "first" may refer to the curvature of Canton viaduct, but the Thomas viaduct at Relay, Md.,

which opened the same year as Canton, has an even sharper curve. An article in Excavating Engineer (May 1936) states:

“The Canton Viaduct is the only bridge in the United States using parallel walls running its entire length in conjunction with segmental deck arches.”

16. From Boston & Providence Rail Road Corporation‟s Engineer‟s Report of June 1st, 1834, on file at Baker Library of Harvard University's Business School; given in part by Galvin 1987: 2. Some of McNeill‟s words sent me to my dictionary, and no doubt had to be translated for the foremen who oversaw the work: impost is a block of stone or

capital at the top of the pier forming the side of an arch, from which the arch springs; intrados is the interior curve of an

arch; voussoir is a wedge-shaped stone forming part of an arch, the keystone being at the top. Batter, or battre, as

McNeill put it, refers to the degree by which the face of a wall leans from vertical.

17. The New Haven Railroad's track maps, than which no railroad had or has any better, indicate that the viaduct

stretched from station 7466+25 feet at its south (railroad "west") end to station 7472+05 feet at the north ("east") end

(distances measured from near New Haven), a length of 580 feet. For reasons unknown to me this differs from McNeill's

proposed length of 613.5 feet. McNeill's measurements are taken from a starting point near Prentiss St. in Roxbury. The

arch over Neponset St. was situated at station 7468+35, 210 feet from the viaduct's south end. On the map, the Neponset

River is lettered "Mill Pond." The New Haven's profile shows the elevation above sea level at the south end of the

viaduct to be 122.5 feet, 4 feet higher than the north end, putting the tracks on a southward ascending grade of 0.69

percent, nearly the same as the ruling grade of 0.71 percent toward Sharon Heights (NYNH&H R. R. 10 Sept. 1941).

As many times as I had passed over the Canton viaduct, particularly when commuting daily to Boston from 1939 to

1942, I never realized it was built on a curve until 1966 when on a Sunday morning with few trains running I walked

onto the north end of the bridge (which for safety's sake I emphatically do not recommend, besides which it is

trespassing!) to take photographs. The tracks on the viaduct are located on a curvature of 1 degree, forming a right-hand

curve as seen by a viewer facing in the direction of Providence. This is a part of a continuous 1 degree curve 0.64 mile

long, beginning 1030 feet north of the north end of the viaduct and ending 1767 feet south of the south end (op. cit.).

Thus the Canton viaduct is an interesting example of a large bridge built on both a grade and a curve; the latter requiring

the spring or center lines of the arches to be radial rather than parallel to one another, presenting unprecedented problems

for the engineer in charge. The New Haven R. R. catalogued the viaduct simply as Bridge 15.35, which is its mileage

from Boston South Station.

By coincidence, at the same time Canton viaduct was being erected, the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. between 1833 and

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1835 constructed the more famous and oft-photographed Thomas viaduct crossing the Patapsco River at Relay, Md., 7

miles west of Baltimore, now on a freight-only line. This stone arch bridge has eight spans and an overall length of 612

feet. Its 4-degree curvature must have called for even trickier design and construction solutions than the Canton stone

bridge. One source claims it was built by McNeill!

18. The viaduct could have been built with open arches, like the Thomas viaduct (mentioned above), and had it been

built 50 to 75 years later it would have been constructed less attractively of iron or steel girders, with openwork piers

permitting Cantonians an unobstructed view. But a Canton historian writes: "As one comes from Norwood, the bridge

does form a lovely picture with its many arches through which flow the waters of the branch, thence falling over the dam

below, and from the east the picture is also impressive" (Canton Hist. Soc., undated).

19. But there was more than one way to skin a cat; Sheldon (1862/1988: 108) discovered that stones as heavy as five

tons could be hauled over the ground on a so-called stone boat, a sort of heavy toboggan, on a bed of "good, straight rye

straw, spread crosswise of the path . . . . The hotter the sun shone, the easier the drag would slide, and I found one good

yoke [pair] of oxen would slip along with five tons comfortably. Twenty-five pounds of straw to the rod will make a

good, fair road."

20. See Galvin 1987: 6 for a photograph of the Moyle quarry. Geologist Dr. P. C. Lyons made me aware of the

existence of the quarry and W. O. Hocking first showed it to me. To obtain the best quality product, granite was split by

sequentially hammering wedges into a row of holes drilled along the grain of the rock until it broke. It could also be

broken by blasting, using black powder in the drilled holes; according to Sheldon (1862/1988: 131) this cost $1 a cubic

yard less than wedging, probably because it required less time and manpower.

In December 1990 I spent several days surveying the ice-coated quarry with a Brunton compass and hand sighting

level, and in January 1991 drew a map on a scale of 20 feet to the inch, with 19 east-west cross sections. The greatest

length of the quarry in the direction north 19 degrees west (true) is about 260 feet and the greatest breadth 95 feet. The

length of the perimeter is 790 feet, and the superficial area 11,700 square feet. Maximum height of the high walls along

the west side of the quarry is not much over 20 feet. From my map and sections I calculated that approximately 8300

short tons (at 2000 pounds each) of rock had been removed from the pits, of which 10 percent or more was left as

discards. These numerous unwanted blocks are piled along the cartpath immediately east of the quarry. At one place in

the pit an old steel plug and two "feathers" used by the workmen to crack and wedge apart the blocks of stone are still

jammed for all time in a drill hole. I gave the map to W. O. Hocking of Foxborough; it is now in possession of the

Sharon Hist. Soc. My advice to anyone mapping a quarry: Firmly resist the temptation to step back to admire your work.

21. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

22. McNeill in his 1834 report specifies that no stone should be less than 15 inches thick vertically.

23. Many of these Scottish stonemasons were buried in St. Mary‟s Cemetery, Canton. 24. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 4; Harlow 1946: 105; Greene 1953: 1; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 4. Greene comments

acidly on the newly arranged (and confusing) corporate title, "R. I. would put Providence first in the name." Refer to

Appendix F for comments on the confusing name-change of the Transportation Co.

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8 – B. and P. runs its first trains and loses two locomotives

Perhaps in undue haste to put the finishing touches on the line from Boston to Readville or Dedham

Low Plains, as some called it, and open it for money-making revenue service, some time in 1834

Boston and Providence got a bit sloppy with one of their dirt trains. The engine Black Hawk, which

had labored unsung in lowly construction service for barely a year, toppled ignominiously off the

track along with its train of loaded cars, or else the roadbed sank under it, and was lost forever in the

treacherous quicksands of Sprague's Pond,[1] a placid 1000-foot-long body of water which still may

be seen from Amtrak and commuter train windows on the west side of the tracks in Readville,

although originally it lay on both sides – the roadbed and track were laid across it, the eastern part of

the pond later being filled.[2]

As pleased as Black Hawk's fireman may have been to get shut of the cranky anthracite-burner

(one hopes he and his engineer bailed off the footplate before the silty waters closed over them!),

this was an embarrassing circumstance for the fledgling railroad because it left them with only

Lincoln, another unsatisfactory Long and Norris coal-burner, to power their anticipated first

passenger train; Whistler, you will remember, being on the wrong side of the unfinished viaduct.

At any rate, despite their acute motive power shortage the Boston and Providence, probably as

much to show off their accomplishments and bait future patrons as to test the equipment, ran an ad in

the Boston Transcript on 29 May 1834 announcing that on the following Wednesday, 4 June,[3] they

would begin running "experimental" excursion trips over the distance between Pleasant Street

Station in Boston and "Low Plains in Dedham," variously reported as 10 miles or 12 (the distance

was about 8-1/2 miles). The temporary depot at the south end of the run was the large old Sprague

farm mansion house in a countrified section of the town of Dedham now known as Readville – not

far from where Black Hawk met its ignominious end. The Dedham Patriot of 5 June reported:

A large number of our citizens were yesterday morning, (Wednesday) highly gratified with a view of

the Engine and Cars destined to ply between Boston and Providence on the Rail Road. They arrived

about ten o'clock at Low Plain, about two miles from this village, with a part of the Proprietors and

Directors, on an experimental excursion. We learn that the engine worked admirably and fully

answered the expectations of those interested. The passenger cars, four in number, were built by

Messrs M. P. and M. E. Green, coach-makers, Hoboken, N. J. in a style creditable both to the

mechanics and the employers. By the politeness of the Directors, the ladies and gentlemen present

were invited to take seats in the cars, and were conveyed some three or four miles and back, and

appeared much pleased with the ride.[4]

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The Boston Transcript of 4 June reported that the "Rail-road opened this morning for ten miles

from Boston, rate of travelling exceeded 23 miles an hour – part of the distance nearly 30 miles an

hour."[5] This scotches the common notion that the early passenger trains dawdled along at 10 or 15

miles per hour; on the well-built Boston and Providence, provided you were aware of lurking

quicksands, you had no "snake-heads" to slow you down. The 7 June Boston Advertiser repeats the

praise for the engine:

A locomotive was put in operation of this road on Saturday last [31 May], and is said to have worked

admirably. On Wednesday [4 June] the inhabitants of Dedham were gratified by the appearance there

of the engine drawing a number of superb passenger cars, filled with the directors and a part of the

proprietors, at the rate of 20 miles an hour.[6]

The fare for this short run was steep – 75 cents for the round trip, equal to a good chunk of a

laboring man's daily wage. But laborers were too busy to ride these trains even if they could afford

to, nor were they the class of riders and shippers the corporation hoped to attract. There were also in

the consist "private cars holding twenty passengers, $15."[7] These capacious cars, again contrary to

popular belief, were not of the cramped stagecoach-on-flanged-wheels type so often pictured in

history books[8] – these generally held only about eight or nine passengers – but (except on the

Dedham Branch, which we will come to) were shaped like oblong boxes and painted what probably

was then the standard railroad yellow.[9]

A longer article from the Providence Journal of 10 June tells of another trip made three days

before that date by some Boston fire fighters, and incidentally informs us that track had been laid for

a distance of 13 miles from Boston, to the vicinity of current Amtrak milepost 215, about a mile

north of Canton, though because of the intervening rock ridges the predicted opening date to that

station was over-optimistic:

The Boston Advocate informs us, that a large company filled the Providence Rail Road Cars on

Saturday afternoon, principally of No. 7 Engine Company, who by invitation of the Directors took an

excursion on the road. In going out, owing to an "experiment" in the use of coke, some little delay took

place until wood could be procured, but in returning, great velocity was obtained, the distance (ten

miles) being performed in twenty three minutes, or a mile in two and a half minutes, being at the rate

of twenty-four miles per hour. Refreshments were provided for the Company in the old Sprague

House, a short distance from the stopping place.

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The Rails are laid about three miles further, and it is expected that the Road will be open to

Canton on the 4th of July.

The country through which the road passes is beautiful, and the road itself is extremely well

constructed, doing great credit to its Engineer and Assistants – It will hardly be believed by those who

have ever been jolted over this turnpike that the whole rise in this road from Boston to the summit in

Sharon, is only fifty-eight feet [sic], and for sixteen miles the road is a dead level. To the Sprague

House the road rises only twenty eight feet in ten miles, and is remarkably straight and free from

scraps [sic – scrapes?] which occur so frequently on other roads.

Most of the Cars on this road at present, are of Hoboken manufacture, but two large Cars, made by

Mr. Frost, late of Baltimore, bore away the palm for easy and pleasant travelling and neatness of

workmanship.

A journey to New York will indeed be a very trifling affair when this road is completed.[10]

These trains, which like the first runs on the Boston and Worcester were considered to be

excursion trips, now steamed every afternoon out to the Sprague mansion.

I have encountered some confusing and contradictory secondary reports of these historic first runs.

Some historians claim the trains were pulled by horses,[11] which obviously was not so. Others say

the engine used was Whistler.[12] More likely it was Lincoln, although that engine, having proved

unsatisfactory, some time in 1834 was returned to William Norris in Philadelphia for rebuilding into

a wood-burner; perhaps it broke down after these first few runs. Whistler, as mentioned above, was

engaged as a work engine on the Seekonk-Canton end of the line, and was about to have its own

adventure down in Mansfield.

* * *

While these introductory runs were pleasing the public, construction was proceeding on the south

end of the railroad. By now the gangs had finished, mercifully, with Attleborough and its violated

Kirk Yard and were sweating their way, aided by the busy little Whistler, into Mansfield's outer

fringes. Entering that town near its southwest corner, they graded the roadbed through a half mile of

swampy, mosquito-swarming woods that required a long but shallow fill and then out into the open

fields and farmlands near what now is Gilbert Street, a straight highway used since colonial times as

a secondary route from Taunton to Worcester.

Gilbert Street for many decades has bridged over the tracks – until the 1930s it was the only

public highway/railroad bridge in Mansfield. Records suggest that the overpass may have existed at

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least as early as 1857 and I suspect it may have been there almost from the first, as the natural

surrounding land rises gradually above the railroad (I‟ve photographed many trains from the steep sides of the cut), so that the idea of an overhead highway bridge must have suggested itself almost

automatically to McNeill.[13]

Here it was that he and his veteran Corkies encountered the first consequential wrinkle in the

otherwise pancake-flat topography ("dead level," the Boston Advocate described it, though not quite

correctly) since leaving Seekonk. The south-facing upslope of this crosswise bump in the ground

was gentle. But immediately north of Gilbert Street the terrain dipped, descending nearly 50 feet in a

distance of 300 feet to the flood plain of an insignificant creek called Wading River. This declivity,

unusual for Mansfield, which for the most part is flat as the map, should have warned McNeill of

what was coming. It is now known to be the surface expression of an inactive fault in the 300-

million-year-old Pennsylvanian bedrock along which the stream trends, although the chief engineer

knew nothing of that, nor did he need to. What was plain to him was that halfway down the slope, at

the north end of the Gilbert Street cut, a lengthy fill had to be commenced, and to help it along, his

gangs, perhaps using timbers from Otis Sweet's water-powered sawmill 1000 feet upstream, knocked

together a temporary wooden trestle across Wading River.

The fill, or causeway as it more properly should be called, stretched for about 800 feet from just

north of Gilbert Street to Wading River, then an equal distance beyond that, across the bog north of

the stream, and yet another 1200 feet through a lowland – more than a half mile in all. The surface

topography that necessitated this long fill certainly came as no surprise to McNeill, who already had

plotted it on his profile layout, drawing a precise pencil line along a stretched string neatly bisecting

the proposed cuts and fills. But what unquestionably put frown-marks in his brow was that the bog

beyond the river was beginning day after day to swallow an alarming and costly number of carloads

of dumped dirt, gravel and rocks.[14]

Townspeople, except perhaps for neighboring farmers and a few curious cows, evidently took

little or no notice of this ongoing drama. The Mansfield historian writes, "One would expect that the

building of the railroad through the town would have brought forth complications that would have

started town meeting debates, but never once is it mentioned in the records. During the period when

the road was being built and opened, the voters legislated in regard to schools, the poor, and the

restraint of swine running at large. Instead of getting excited in meeting over the railroad, they were

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all stirred up over the finding of the body of a baby in Otis Sweet's mill pond. When we look for

some mention of the opening of the road we find the guess as to who the mother of the babe might

be."[15] Even the rum rumpus that rumbled through town and the subsequent removal of the large

1790 Isaac Lane farmhouse from the path of the oncoming rails seems to have aroused little local

interest. But there was another even more striking event which one would think might have got into

the local historical records, though it did not.

We are told two simple but significant facts about the construction of the railroad through

Mansfield. One is that during the "formation" of the Boston and Providence the track sank to a depth

of 40 feet.[16] The other is that Whistler was "Lost in bog at Mansfield."[17] It is not too great a

leap of faith, I trust, to assume that these two startling events were related; that when the track

subsided into the muck, so did Whistler.

The Providence Daily Journal of this time contains no mention of the sinking of Boston and

Providence's rails along with Whistler, perhaps in the interest of maintaining good press relations

with a steady advertiser, not to mention keeping secrets from influential stockholders. Nor did the

Boston papers say anything of it. Very likely they were not even told of the happening.[18]

Mansfield had no newspaper of its own and would have none for nearly 40 years, few if any roving

reporters from journals in nearby cities made it out into the hinterlands, and publicity was scant.

Exactly where was Whistler lost? There is only one place along the railroad in Mansfield where

the bedrock lies far enough beneath the surface to accommodate a bog 40 feet deep. That is at or just

north of the aforesaid Wading River, which is a bit less than a mile south of the former depot at West

Mansfield then known as Tobit's.[19]

Amtrak‟s “Northeast Corridor” – the former New Haven Railroad Shore Line – now crosses the

Wading River about 900 feet north of Gilbert Street by means of an attractive masonry arch[20] 25

or 30 feet high and 45 feet long with 20-foot curved wing walls at either end. The stonework is

bound together, apparently, by a latitudinal internal rod headed by star-shaped iron clamps located

centrally on each flank of the bridge – one sometimes sees the like on old brick buildings of

uncertain stability. Whether this clamp was original or, like the concrete lining of the arch, was

added later I do not know, but it was there when I first photographed the bridge in July 1966 and is

there now. Miniature white stalactites produced by a mineral leaching out of the granite hang like

icicles from the under side of the arch.

The shallow river there is not much as rivers go – a brook or creek, one would call it, if it were not

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already called a river – but it winds delightfully and is furnished with an abundance of convenient

stepping stones, and in summer forms a pretty little dell hemmed in by dense greenery. In 1834 the

vicinity would have been more open, bordering on a cow pasture, probably, or meadows of marsh

hay, and one can imagine that on hot summer days the masons building the bridge or the tarriers

descended during their brief dinner period to drink with cupped hands from the stream, enjoying a

few minutes of cool shade beneath the arch, the inner curve of which reflected with a tremulous,

reverberating echo their heavy-shod footfalls and lively County Cork banter.

Neither does the swamp there look, at least on a map, to be much of a bog. But it had to be filled,

and so it was, the causeway daily growing longer, wider, deeper and more expensive.

When was Whistler lost? If construction on the Seekonk end of the line reached Attleborough Kirk

Yard in the last week of June, as previously described, and if track-laying proceeded at the rate of

one mile per week, as was reported by visiting European civil engineer Gerstner, the rails could not

have got to Wading River, 3.22 miles farther north, until the third or fourth week of July. On 4

August the railroad corporation confidently informed the public that the locomotive Whistler would

begin daily trips with passenger cars between Boston and "Dedham Township," which meant

Readville. This leaves a window of two weeks in late July when the sinking could have occurred –

less than that if sufficient time be allowed for the salvage, towing, shipment to the railroad‟s Roxbury shop and reconditioning of the engine; more, if a better-authenticated start date for the train

service of 20 August be utilized.

My further assumption is that the long fill across the swamp held up under the small horse-drawn

wagons and carts but collapsed under the concentrated eight-ton heft of Whistler and its tender

which weighed another 6.4 tons when loaded with wood and water.[21] McNeill, like the capable

engineer he was, no doubt had followed his experience in allowing for a ten percent settling of the

earthwork,[22] but a settlement of 40 feet was a bit much. I have no idea whether he was a religious

man, but if not, when he got wind of this second sinking he must have unburdened himself of some

of the fine language (not too much softened by a southern accent) of which army regulars were and

are capable.

He certainly knew that major subsidences of railways and roads being built across swamps were

not uncommon. An embankment of his Stonington railroad being laid across the marshy flood plain

of Hunt River in Rhode Island sank 70 feet during construction and 10 more feet within a year of the

opening of the line.[23] In such cases, as he was aware, the accumulating weight of the fill caused

the unstable water-saturated lower layers to mushroom outward, allowing the roadbed to sink

straight down.[24] Sometimes the mushrooming layers rose on either side and broke the surface. But

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so many details of the Mansfield occurrence are forever lost! How was it known that the bog was 40

feet deep?[25] How did the crew escape when their engine sank? Did they escape? (I assume so;

otherwise word of their boggy demise would have reached the newspapers.)

One can almost hear the young Boston and Providence master mechanic George S. Griggs

(recommended by George Washington Whistler at Lowell Locks and Canals and hired by the genial

and respected Superintendent William Raymond Lee[26] in 1834) giving vent to an early 19th

century equivalent of, "Not another engine! For Heaven's sake, can't you clowns be trusted with

anything?" But maybe Mr. Griggs was more controlled and mannerly than that.

What to do now? The authoritative historian Charles Fisher says, with an air of finality, only that

Whistler was "lost." Period! He offers no further comments on either the loss or the possible

retrieval, nor do Edson's later corrections and additions suggest that Whistler was salvaged, leading

us to think that the little English engine was entombed for all eternity, never to be seen again. But

this was not the case! We have already noted that Whistler was slated to begin hauling passenger

trains between Boston and Readville in August 1834, and it is reported that on 12 September it

pulled the first Boston-Canton train to connect with the Providence-bound stages at Canton.[27] We

know also from an official report that Whistler, or at least an engine called by that name, was

undergoing fuel and water consumption and steaming tests between Boston and Canton in February

and March 1835,[28] six or seven months after the most probable date of its sinking. We are told

that Whistler was renamed Massachusetts,[29] though that had to have occurred after March 1835.

We also know that Whistler was the only Stephenson engine Boston and Providence ever bought;

and that in 1838[30] and 1839[31] a Stephenson locomotive was reliably reported (by Gerstner) to

be on the roster. What can we make of all that?

The Boston and Providence, having taken second place to the Boston and Worcester in the railroad

race, was anxious to begin passenger service as soon as possible. Of their three engines, one was

swallowed up for all time in the hungry quicksands of Sprague's Pond, another in the soppy black

muck of the West Mansfield bog, while the third was the unreliable Lincoln, which perhaps even

then had been shipped back to The Quaker City for rebuilding, leaving McNeill with a railroad to

complete and no operable steam locomotives.

There can be little doubt that Whistler was raised from the dead.[32] My hypothesis is that the

railroad's brass collars, vexed and embarrassed that two of their three engines had been deep-sixed

(they bought no other locomotives until the following year), lost no time in ordering the salvage of

the least difficult of the two lost souls, which must have been Whistler. The details of its resurrection

are not known, at least to me, and a search of all available accounts and records has turned up

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nothing. But our forebears were far more clever and resourceful than we give them credit for –

especially those with a West Point engineering background. For example, they moved large houses

such as the federal-style Lane farmhouse or a later Mansfield passenger station over sometimes

considerable distances, on rollers by or skidding them on greased timber platforms, employing teams

of oxen to do the pulling. And though heavy-duty power cranes, excavators, bulldozers and pumps

were not available, men's brains in the 19th century worked as well as ours, and they used their

ingenuity to make do with what they had.

My guess is that after perhaps constructing a timber caisson to hold back the muck and water, they

buried in the earth what was called a "dead man" consisting of massive timbers or tree trunks lashed

together, then bolted to it a multiple sheave so that the heavy ropes or chains passing through its

pulleys afforded a high mechanical advantage, and then McNeill and his Corkies (who had been

used to bogs in Ireland, where peat was a common household fuel – the name Cork, in fact, means

“swamp”) --, rising to the challenge, mucked their way to Whistler, got belly-bands around it, and

with teams of oxen heaved it free with a sound like a vast cow pulling her foot out of the mud.

Continuing in the same hypothetical vein, I suggest that the slime-coated locomotive, which

probably was not too badly damaged by its descent into the soft muck,[33] then was towed along the

rails by animal-power to Seekonk, ramped aboard a schooner and taken around Cape Cod to Boston,

trundled aboard a heavy ox-drawn wagon from the dock through the cobblestoned city streets to the

rail yard and thence to Roxbury shop, where under the expert supervision of master mechanic

George S. Griggs it was cleaned up and its bent parts straightened, repainted, given a steaming test

and made fit for service. This move would explain how Whistler was to reappear in August and

September pulling passenger trains on the Boston end of the line, and how it is that in February and

March 1835 the company's records show that Whistler was being given fuel consumption tests

between Boston and Canton.

The transfer of Whistler to the north end of the railroad raises another question: What did McNeill,

Lee and their Corkies, in building and laying the 13 remaining miles of roadbed and track between

Wading River fill and Canton viaduct, do for motive power?

It is possible to build a railroad without the use of locomotives, and we must assume that oxen and

draft horses served as the sole motive power in the work of completing the great West Mansfield

causeway and the East Foxborough rock cuts; in shifting the carloads of dirt and boulders to equalize

excavations and fills; in hauling 10,000 English wrought iron rails weighing 1400 tons[34] and

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25,000 white cedar ties totaling 550 tons (you mathematically-aware folks will tell me these are

more than enough to lay the main track, but there were sidings and yards), plus kegs of joint-chairs

and spikes, northward from Seekonk wharf.

Was the cranky Lincoln transferred to the south end aboard the same schooner that went to pick up

the battered Whistler? Perhaps, though it would seem that Lincoln, if available at all, was needed on

the north end to replace the sunken Black Hawk and pull the excursion trains. Did Lieutenant George

Washington Whistler, influential and multi-connected chap that he was, manage to borrow an engine

or engines of which we now have no record from another of the railroads that were a-building out of

Boston? Indeed, were there two or three engines called Whistler, one sunken and lost, the others not?

– that possibility has been suggested[35] and will be examined in due time. These questions, the

answers to which posed no mystery to directors, engineers and tarriers at the time, now probably

unanswerable, tantalize the inquiring mind.

At least one locomotive was still running, because on 28 July a regular morning Boston-Readville

round trip was added to the schedule, with stagecoach connections to Dedham Center to keep the

residents of that town pacified. And the Boston papers announced on 20 August that until further

notice, passenger cars drawn by Whistler would leave daily except Sunday from the Boston terminal

station "at the south-west corner of the Common, in Pleasant Street," to the Sprague mansion

house.[36]

For unknown causes, all train service was temporarily suspended 25 August; a motive power

shortage or breakdown certainly seems eligible as a reason. This may have been when Lincoln was

shipped to Philadelphia for rebuilding, leaving reborn Whistler to shoulder the burden alone.

* * *

From the massive causeway across Wading River bog (I estimate that a half million cubic yards of

dirt and rock were dumped into this costly and time-consuming earthwork, requiring an incredible

40,000 man-days of labor just to dig and load without benefit of bulldozers, power shovels or

backhoes;[37] quite possibly the engine Whistler had been acquired especially to haul this huge

amount of dirt to the bog site into which, ironically, it was fated to sink), the advancing roadbed was

laid northward though another half-mile patch of woods where a second fill 1600 feet long was

required, thence across what now is Elm Street and onto yet another embankment, this one 6000 feet

long and in places 15 feet high, skimming the northern fringes of the swampy Norton Great Woods

and bridging John Hodges Brook with a still-extant stone-lined triple culvert.

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It next neatly sliced a westward-jutting elbow of School Street near the 1775 farmhouse of Isaac

Lane, which had to be moved from its inexorable path, and pressed on, eating up the landscape at the

rate of a mile a week; cutting off the Bailey dwelling from the neighboring Shepard house and

crossing the present-day West and Central Streets, between which Mansfield's first passenger station

was to be located; thence through more woods and over another modest creek called Rumford River

(Chauncy Street didn't exist then) on a low timber trestle, giving the Widow Williams a fright as it

narrowly missed her house in crossing for the first of two times what is now North Main Street.[38]

The Mansfield historian writes, "The passing of the railroad through Mansfield must have created

a great deal of excitement in town. There must have been much discussion pro and con, for to some

it was not an unmitigated blessing. The stage drivers and the tavern keepers certainly would not

welcome the new 'contraption' . . . . Some level headed business men felt that a railroad running near

their property would detract from the value. Some opposed the road because it was new and as long

as they lived never rode on a passenger train."[39]

In Foxborough, two-tenths of a mile north of the Mansfield town line, the roadbed took its first

bend in more than 16 miles, curving gently to the left through another woods and two times

intersecting the present-day Summer Street at grade crossings long since abolished.[40] The modern

Cocasset Street, now an overpass, was crossed at grade near the proposed Foxborough passenger

station, and then there was only one more grade crossing in that town, Boyden's, near Bell Rock on

the Sharon town line.

That the Boston and Providence roadbed (whether still devoid of rails is not known) by September

had progressed northward as far as the unbridged gap at Canton is attested to by a careful diarist who

lived in the eastern part of Mansfield – a farmer, state legislator, textile mill worker, schoolteacher,

newspaper editor and publisher, justice of the peace, anti-slavery activist and pamphleteer, amateur

astronomer and meteorologist, linguist and all-round keen observer named Isaac Stearns, Jr. (1790-

1879). Known as "Banty" because of his diminutive size (he weighed 124 pounds) and disputatious

or "cocky" nature, Stearns was an early riser as well as a tireless walker who seemed to think nothing

of covering up to 40 miles a day by shank's mare. Unlike his sourpuss fellow townsman Elijah Dean,

his attitude toward the railroad was one of open-minded acceptance.

On 10 September 1834 Isaac recorded in his diary, "3 A.M. set off for Boston, arrived there at

noon on foot. Walked the rail road from beyond Sharon." From his home, with the planets Jupiter

and Mars shining down approvingly over his right shoulder, it was no feat for him to reach the right-

of-way by hiking the seven miles past Massapoag Pond to Sharon, and then 17 more miles around

the great gray-brown wall of the unfinished viaduct to the city.[41]

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But it is his return trip two days later that interests most! On Friday, 12 September, Stearns wrote,

"7 A.M. Started from Boston in rail road car to go home, went within one mile of Stone factory in

Canton, 15 miles in 33 minutes. The train consisted of the steam engine, the tender, baggage car, and

four passenger cars. The first time they began to run regular to meet the stage with steam boat

passengers from Providence. They went as far as the rail road is completed."[42]

Not only was this Stearns's first train ride, it was the first regularly scheduled steam train to run

from Boston as far as Canton; for unknown reasons (an engine shortage and/or the difficulty of

blasting through the granite ridge north of town) more than two months later than the 4th of July date

prophesied by both the Boston Advocate and the Providence Journal. By Stearns‟s timing, the train averaged a brisk 27.3 miles per hour on route, and that may have included a stop at Readville,

indicating that the engineman really "beat her over the back;" or if we accept the more nearly

accurate 14-mile distance given in a later timetable and by some other accounts of this maiden run,

the speed comes to a still respectable 25.5 miles per hour average. If the engine was Whistler, as

some reports claim[43] and as was probably the case, it had indeed made a sparkling recovery from

its ignominious mud bath down in Mansfield!

From Stearns's brief diary entry we learn also that on that day the train connected with a highway

stagecoach that had met the New York boat docking at Providence. So if we had any doubt, the

Seekonk-Mansfield-Canton part of the line was not yet open for train service, probably in part

because no locomotive was available on that section. One can only wish that Stearns had thought to

give us the name of the engine hauling his train, which must have been plainly visible on brass plates

affixed to the locomotive's flanks!

From this time on, until the viaduct and the south portion of the Boston and Providence were

completed, service on the run between Boston and Canton was handled by one train each way daily,

the run from Boston leaving in the morning, the return train's departure time from Canton contingent

on the arrival of the stagecoach from Providence. This regular exchange of passengers provides an

interesting example of a profitable end-to-end conjunction of older and brand new means of

intermodal transport – steamboat, horse-drawn stage and steam train!

Thus we see the first piecemeal step toward the establishment of the daily Boston-Providence

“Steamboat Train,” the Amtrak Acela of its day, awaiting only the completion of the railroad for it to

be transformed into a speedy all-rail service between the two state capitals without the intervention

of the helpful but slow and uncomfortable stagecoach.

Despite the growing success of the railroad, the proprietors of the connecting coaches, ignoring

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their own poor safety records, continued to cling to their doubts. "Just let the train run off the track

when going thirty miles an hour and kill two or three hundred people a few times," a Providence

coach operator croaked hopefully, "and people will be ready to stick to the stages." [44] But it didn't

happen that way. In fact, no one railroad accident in the United States has ever killed that many

persons.

The Providence-bound passengers, as the horses brought their stage from the temporary Canton

station situated about where the freight sheds later stood on the west side of the track at Canton

Junction, traversed what was called a "carry by"[45] down into and across the river valley and

perhaps onto the Walpole Road. They were rewarded for the jolting and inconvenience by getting a

close side-on view of the beginnings of the mighty Stone Bridge, which every day rose higher,

blotting out more and more of the sky. By now they saw the six D-shaped culverts through which the

river flowed, and gawked upward at the much taller arch, 22 feet wide, over the road leading into

Canton, and the cranes and scaffolds on which the workers climbed like busy ants, and perhaps a

glimpse of the undistinguished old white horse Charlie and his flatcar. From these depths their stage

was hauled past the Stone Factory and onto the road that would take them to the Rhode Island

capital.[46]

Some historians continue to maintain that these early Boston-Canton railroad runs were drawn by

horses. Perhaps horses were used now and then to fill in on trips when the steam engine was

indisposed, as locomotives are apt now and then to be. But Isaac Stearns's first-hand evidence is

indisputable. It does appear that Whistler probably hauled the 12 September run, and that at this time

the only steam-powered and operable section of the Boston and Providence Rail Road was that

between Canton and Boston.[47]

* * *

I have noted before that the Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation chose to bypass

Dedham Center (as it had jilted the north or main part of Attleborough) by two miles. Dedham,

which included the present town of Norwood, then called South Dedham, was a briskly up-and-

coming community with its county courthouse and attendant lawyers and officials, two woolen

mills, two cotton mills, four sawmills and five factories employing Irish and German immigrants

who made up 27 percent of the town's population. Dedham‟s manufactures for the year ending 1 April 1837 (and I realize we are not there yet, but statistics must be grabbed where we can find

them) amounted to $510,755, and included cotton and woolen goods, leather, boots and shoes, paper,

iron castings, chairs, hats and bonnets and silk goods. These, together with Dedham‟s robust population of 3532, represented too healthy a potential railroad business to be overlooked. Its

137

residents, who ambitiously supported local industrial development, were displeased at being ignored

by the railway. A Dedhamite named E. B. Grant, in a pamphlet entitled "Boston Railways,"

published 20 years after the fact, clearly saw through the motives of the Boston and Providence

directors.

Built mainly with a view to securing the New York travel, its line was run in the most direct

practicable line . . . and as time has shown, injudiciously avoiding towns whose large traffic it has

since been thought to secure by the construction of expensive branches.[48]

Dedham wanted such a branch of its own, and now demanded it. They felt they had good reasons.

A number of Boston businessmen who lived in Dedham had depended on stages or privately-owned

vehicles to take them either to Readville or ten miles to Boston. But the Dedham Hotel, which

stabled 60 horses, had burned in 1832 and the misnamed Phoenix Hotel with its 63 horses went up in

flames in January 1834, leaving the would-be commuters horseless. They had on their side McNeill

and his civil engineering assistant W. Raymond Lee, both of whom then lived in Dedham and

recognized the need for better transportation into the big city.[49]

The Boston and Providence directors were agreeable to the idea of a branch track to Dedham. To

jump-start the project the town built and paid for a right-of-way and the land for a passenger station,

and the railroad corporation in December 1834 began to lay track from a junction with the main line

at Milepost 8 in Readville. This new road was styled simply the Dedham Branch, without adding the

words "Rail Road."[50]

Work was finished and the branch, the first of several that were to tie in with the Boston and

Providence, and the first in the state, was opened 5 February 1835,[51] six months before the main

line commenced operations for its entire distance. (It would be 35 years before North Attleborough

got its branch.) As seen by one coming from the direction of Boston, this little railroad turned off the

main track with a sharp right-hand curve and ran westward through the villages of Walnut Hill or

East Dedham and Stone Haven to Dedham Center. The track was 2.23 miles long (no mention of

kilometer-posts here!) and had three “planes” – one level section and two grades of 1 in 192 and 1 in

160 (0.52 and 0.62 percent). Sharpest curve radius was 818 feet (7 degrees). Unlike the well-

constructed main line, however, the Dedham Branch was laid with iron strap rails 2-1/4 inches wide

and 5/8 inch thick, spiked to 6 by 6-inch spruce stringers resting on white cedar crossties placed on

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the ground and spaced 3 feet apart. Cost of "laying" the line came to about $40,000.[52] Although

the Branch was part of the Boston and Providence, in keeping with the parent road's arcane way of

doing business its accounts were carried on separate books until at least 1846.[53]

As the Boston and Providence apparently had no steam locomotives to spare for working the

branch (their only operable engine, Whistler, was busy pulling main line trains between Boston and

Canton[54]), Dedham service was handled for six months or so by horses working all the way

through from Dedham to Pleasant Street station, Boston – a pretty picture, these high-stepping

steeds. With the opening of the main line in summer of 1835 the horses of inbound cars were

detached at Readville and the cars coupled onto locomotive-hauled trains.

From the start, season tickets and then “commuter” tickets were sold on the Dedham Branch.[55]

As a sop to those stick-in-the-muds who still preferred stages, which would perform pick-up and

delivery service to their very doors, the railroad corporation began running a carriage to transport

passengers between their homes and the Dedham depot. A similar service was provided on the

Boston end; the company notified the traveling public that a "Mr. McIntire, the conductor of the cars,

will have in readiness on the arrival of the cars at the depot in Boston, a carriage to convey

Passengers to any part of the city they may desire to go, at 12-1/2 cents each." Even so, an

independent four-horse omnibus continued to compete with the railroad by running over the highway

between Dedham and Boston until 1841.[56]

The Dedham Branch horses drew what amounted to Concord-style stagecoaches modified with

their two large and two small wheels replaced by four equal-sized flanged railroad wheels. Their

interior capacity was limited to eight passengers who sat facing each other in end seats, with room

for about as many more on the roof. The center doors opened outward. The coach had leather

springs. Some writers[57] have claimed that these stagecoach-type cars were used by the Boston and

Providence in regular main line steam-hauled passenger service, and have published photos of the

cars lettered "Boston & Providence" in what they think is support of their claims. Except for one or

more well-documented inspection trips made before the Canton viaduct was completed in 1835 and

undoubtedly a number of unofficial and unrecorded outings, I have found no firm or believable

evidence that this was so.

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I have seen several photographs of what appear to be two very similar coaches, or perhaps one

coach in different stages of being refurbished.[58] The letterboards are inscribed "BOSTON &

PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD." The cars have two windows and a door (which also has a window)

on either side, the windows equipped with roll-up curtains that can be pulled down and fastened in

case of inclement weather. Each end of the coach has a brakeman's seat supported by scrolled iron

brackets, and a long vertical lever, against which the brakeman braced his foot, extending down the

end of the car to the brake blocks. The roof is arranged as a baggage rack, with a low protective

railing around the outside. Until metal luggage checks were issued by the Boston and Providence in

1835, each passenger had to paste a label to his own baggage bearing his name and destination.

The differences between what I have assumed to be two cars are minor. The side step of one car, a

necessity in boarding passengers, is missing; it has no door latch, as the other car does; and the

painted decoration on the longitudinal beam running outboard of the wheels is plainer.

Two of these cars (there were six originally,[59] built in 1833 and 1834 at the railroad‟s Roxbury shop under the direction of master car-builder John Lightner,[60]) were preserved. The coach having

the side step, door latches and decorative side beam was shown at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair

attached to Boston and Providence engine Daniel Nason and Old Colony locomotive No. 252. After

the fair it was stored at Roxbury Shops of the Boston and Providence, and finally loaned to Purdue

University, which in 1939 displayed it at the New York World's Fair on Long Island, where my

father and I viewed it in August of that year.

In 1935 I saw the plainer coach on exhibit in South Station, Boston, alongside the New Haven

Railroad's new streamlined Comet. What impressed me was its size; as limited in passenger capacity

as it may have been, the coach was no dinky little affair. This car at one time (around 1978) was

placed on exhibit at Danbury Fairgrounds in Connecticut, and was purchased from them by the

National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis; in April 1986 it was

being held in storage at the museum until proper display facilities could be arranged, and at the

present time apparently is still there. This same coach was stored for many years in the old New

140

Haven Railroad roundhouse in Plainville, Massachusetts, and more recently was on exhibit at the

University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.[61]

By early 1839, to judge by the fact that the smallest capacity passenger cars then in Boston and

Providence passenger service held 26 riders,[62] the stagecoach-style cars were no longer in use

either on the main line or the Dedham Branch.

* * *

Sometimes history is brought back to life, miraculously resurrected from the tomb, to the

fascinated gratification of even the amateur historian. On 26 November 2001 I received a telephone

call from a film producer in London, England. He had been in communication with railway scholar

Alan M. Levitt of New York City as well as British researcher Michael A. Bailey, president of the

Newcomen Society, regarding the exciting possibility of finding and raising the Newcastle-built

locomotive Whistler from the West Mansfield bog in which it supposedly had been interred for 167

years, and perhaps returning it to its mother soil. The possibility of Whistler being rescued was a

venture Bailey "would much like to take on," Levitt wrote me. Despite my presenting the producer,

as I have the reader, with evidence that the engine very likely had been disinterred and returned to

service within a month of its sinking, his hopes were that such was not the case, and if not, it might

be made the subject of a documentary film of interest to the British telly-viewing public.

Because of the unhandy interposition of 3000 miles of salt water, the Londoner, after several times

discussing the matter with me by telephone, officially handed over his quest to a Boston public

service television station, one of whose producers with his assistant on 8 February 2002

accompanied me to the site of the supposed sinking. Our approach to the location from the east side

of the tracks proving unhandy because of swamp and jungle, I arranged with a West Mansfield friend

to clear the way with the owner of an intervening farm for an attack from the west or Otis Street side.

This done, on 22 February I served as Indian guide to the producers and the helpful West Mansfield

friend on a visit to the isolated Wading River railroad bridge and the adjoining causeway, in addition

to which I provided them with all the information I possessed on the sinking of Whistler. The

producers shot a number of still photographs and laid plans for a magnetometer survey of the

embankment, scheduled for 5 March. This date was moved back to allow time for added research in

old newspaper files at Boston and Providence and in Boston Public Library and Harvard University's

Baker Library.

All these plans coalesced when the two producers, a cameraman, a magnetometer operator, a

surveyor, the interested buddy ("hooked," might be a better word than "interested," though he was no

more hooked than myself) and I got together at the Wading River bridge site on the fine spring

141

morning of 10 May 2002. Although I had advised that Whistler, if it still lay in its mucky grave, was

apt to be found at any point up to 800 to 1000 feet north of the bridge or 500 feet south, the

magnetometer search, because of time constraints and cost (renting the device and its operator was

expensive), was limited to a distance of somewhat more than 300 feet north on both flanks of the

steep-sided embankment and a short distance south, in addition to which the party donned waders

and took readings in the creek. But the adventurous Whistler, the nineteenth century prototype of

"The Little Engine That Could," eluded us. The instrument showed a few minor "anomalies" that

might have resulted from buried track spikes or angle bars or (who knows?) the oil can or lunch pail

of Whistler's suddenly-dispossessed engineer, but nothing that would in the least suggest a hidden

eight-ton locomotive or its tender.[63]

Apparently indisputable proof that, as I had suspected, Whistler no longer reposed under the

Mansfield causeway was discovered by one of the researchers in Baker Library: a handwritten report

of fuel and water consumption and steaming tests given Whistler on the track between Boston and

Canton on 16 February and 6 March 1835.[64] And if this was not evidence enough, and there still is

some reasonable quibbling about it, two authoritative and contemporaneous sources tell us (and I

have mentioned this before, and shall come to the two sources and the quibbling in due time) that the

Boston and Providence in 1838 and 1839 had one Stephenson locomotive on their roster; and we are

quite sure the railroad bought but one engine from Stephenson in Newcastle and that was Whistler!

These facts, as much as any of my opinions and suspicions, sufficed to put the kibosh on any further

search. But a good time was had by all, and perhaps in time, clips from the film made at the site may

be of some interest to viewers on either side of the Atlantic. A shame Whistler wasn't saved by its

owners back in the nineteenth century. But who among them could have dreamed that their engine

would so greatly fascinate us at the beginning of the twenty-first!

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NOTES

1. C. Fisher, Sept. 1938: 80 says simply, "Lost with load of dirt in the quicksands of Sprague Pond, Readville,"

without citing a date or any reference for this statement. As to the date of its loss, Westwood (1977-78: 69) tells us that

Black Hawk "ran barely a year" after being built in 1833. The loss of Black Hawk and its train has given rise to a fable

that one or more cars of spoil, including the cars themselves, were deliberately shoved into swamps along the line to

stabilize the fill. This apocryphal story, however, is commonly told of railroads (the Panama R. R., for one) built across

seemingly "bottomless" or impassable bogs.

2. Walker 1891: 155. This map plate shows approximately equally-sized ponds on both sides of the track; the eastern

part must have been filled during the first half of the 20th century.

3. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 325 says 3 June; this, if it occurred, may have been a trial run. Appleton 1871: 2, Jacobs

1926, Copeland 1930a, C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 79, Harlow 1946: 108, Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29 and 1986: 11, Brown

1987: 7 and NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 4 give the opening date as 4 June. Both Boston & Providence and Boston &

Worcester began running trains before the respective roads were completed for their full length.

4. Reprinted in Boston Advocate 6 June 1834; courtesy of D. Forbes 2002.

5. Harlow (1946: 108) and Barrett (1996: 89) say this extract is from the B&P records.

6. Press preview trip of the Comet, 1935.

7. Harlow 1946: 108, who seems to feel (op. cit.: 108n) that "private cars" refers to cars that were chartered for the

occasion by private citizens. He notes, "The origin of the true private car has so far eluded research" though it is said to

have originated in New England "with a private carriage rolled bodily up on a flat car and the owner's family riding in

snobbish state therein." The $15 is obviously the fare paid for the entire carload of riders at 75 cents apiece.

8. Harlow 1946: 108. A letter of complaint about Boston & Providence train service printed in the Boston Daily

Advocate of 8 Oct. 1835 refers to the "sale of a parcel of old stages advertised as having been formerly running on this

same route between Providence and Boston," but it is not clear whether the writer refers to stages in use on the railroad

or on the parallel turnpike; I think probably the latter.

9. Harlow 1946: 381, evidence of an English traveler named William Chambers.

10. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002. The italics are the newspaper‟s. Ten miles in 23 minutes is an average speed of 26

miles per hour. The first scheduled passenger train did not reach Canton until 12 Sept. 1834. A 258-foot rise between

Boston and Sharon probably was meant. Elevation at the site of former Pleasant Street depot in Boston is 6 feet above

sea level; at Sharon Heights, 269 feet. The 16-mile "dead level" refers to the tangent between East Foxboro and the part

of Seekonk now called Rumford, R. I. (probably “dead straight” was meant), which though quite flat is not level; there is

very little dead level trackage between Boston and Providence. Elevation of the track at Sprague's Brook in Readville is

about 48 feet higher than at Pleasant Strret; neither is the rise continuous, but the tracks pass over two minor humps in

that distance. It was to be only a little more than a year before passengers, who then as now were hard to please, began

complaining of leaky and "rickety" cars.

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As to the unsuccessful experiment with coke, the use of this fuel, though practically universal in England because it

avoided the smoke nuisance of coal or wood in that densely-settled countryside, was very limited in the U. S. due to its

expense and because smoke was not then such a problem in the relatively thinly-populated farm country through which

most American railroads ran (White 1968-79: 89).

The Frost-built cars may have been the “private” cars previously referred to. 11. NHRAA 1942-50/2002: 4 incorrectly states, after the date 4 June 1834, "Passenger cars were drawn by horses."

Levitt 2002: 3, 8 contradicts himself (see Levitt 1997, referenced in the following footnote) when he repeats that the

trains were "horse-drawn" and adds the question, "But was the horse walking in the four-foot [between the rails], or a

horse-treadle mounted in a wagon?" The answer is, Neither.

12. Barrett (1996: 89) states, "The first train [of 4 June 1834] was powered by the engine Whistler and it hauled

coaches which looked more like stagecoaches." Levitt (1997, from Dodd Research Center) says, "The first steam

locomotive to operate in revenue service of [Boston & Providence] ran on June 4, 1834 when the Boston & Providence

Rail Road opened between Park Square [sic], Boston, and Readville. The locomotive was Whistler . . . ." In my opinion,

these statements probably are in error both as to locomotive and consist. It is almost certain that in June 1834 Whistler

was still laboring in construction service on the unfinished Seekonk end of the line.

13. The Mansfield News tells of Gilbert St. bridge being repaired and given new abutments in Oct. 1879. The present

rebuilt Gilbert St. overpass dates from the 1990s. Copeland (1933a) refers to two trains being stuck in the snow in the cut

by Gilbert St. bridge in winter of 1857-58.

14. Mansfield Assessors' Map Plate 7 shows how the boundary lines of the railroad's right-of-way had to be widened

from their customary spacing of 66 feet to 130 to 200 feet for a distance of about 2200 feet to accommodate the breadth

of the fill. The U. S. Geological Survey Mansfield quadrangle map shows swamp only east of the railroad near Wading

River. The land on the west or upstream side is kept dry by the dam at nearby Sweet's millpond, which existed before

1831 (Hewins map of Mansfield). Should the dam fail or be removed, the ground on both sides of the track probably

would be exposed to shallow flooding.

15. Copeland 1936-56: 60.

16. Providence Journal 5 June 1835; Harlow 1946: 106-7.

17. C. Fisher, Sept. 1938: 80. Unfortunately, Fisher did not provide any bibliographic materials to support this

significant statement, so it is impossible to learn of his "bog" source. His sources might be listed in his papers, which

were transferred from Baker Library at Harvard to the California State Railway Museum in Sacramento. The people at

Sacramento, however, report that the papers were removed to the University of Toronto. A researcher named Adrian

Ettlinger called several persons in the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, founded in 1921 by Fisher, from

whom there was a consensus that Fisher's papers were purchased by Andrew A. Merrillees who in turn donated them to

the Public Archives of Canada, in Ottawa, where they may be catalogued under his name. Ettlinger has promised further

investigation. Danuta Forbes of Boston PBS channel 2, having a similar lead, telephoned Canadian libraries, colleges

and universities but found nothing.

Fisher might have obtained his information in the Boston & Providence R. R. archives. These, however, were

auctioned into private hands in 1941 by Sotheby's. Strangely, as if a devil's pact had been entered into to hide this

information from our eyes, Sotheby's does not have a copy of the catalogues of the sale, or any detailed records

concerning the purchasers. It may never be known upon what Fisher based his information. Unlike more inventive

144

historians, Fisher seemingly lacked any reason to "fill in the blanks" in his research and it is impossible to conceive of

any reason why he would have "invented" the "Lost in bog" statement; he had no need for a "disposition" for Whistler

(A. M. Levitt, pers. comms. 2002).

I find it odd too that Harlow (1946) says nothing of Whistler's sinking, though he mentions the subsidence of the fill at

Mansfield.

18. A. M. Levitt and D. Forbes extensively searched a number of contemporary newspapers for any reports of

Whistler's sinking, without success. In Levitt's opinion (pers. comm. 2002) this can be explained in several ways. Not

only did newspapers of the time lack cadres of reporters to dispatch to the site, but it may not have been "politically

correct" to do a bit on a railroad accident. Boston & Providence was an advertiser (and apparently – unlike the New York

& New Haven, which did not pay for its newspaper advertising for eight years – paid their bills); and it may be that the

newspaper proprietors had some financial interest in the railroad. Comparing this to some of the significant railway-

related events known to have occurred in England in the 1840s but not reported in the more fully developed English

press, the fact that there is nothing in (for example) Providence Daily Journal of Whistler's sinking cannot be used as

verification that the sinking did not occur.

19. Determined by me with some extrapolation from (a) the actual track profile obtained from New Haven R. R. 10

Sept. 1941 charts, (b) the apparent original grade based on U. S. Geological Survey contours along the line of the track,

and (c) the bedrock profile determined largely from a map by Williams and Willey (1973). The bedrock beneath an 850-

to 1000-foot-long swamp at Hodges Brook, 0.47 mile north of West Mansfield, lies less than 40 feet deep. At Mansfield

station the tracks pass close to Rumford River, but again, the bedrock is too near the surface. Another local historian

(Burrows 1980) speculated that the bog in question might have been near the School St. overpass a mile north of West

Mansfield, but here the coal-bearing bedrock is actually at and even above the surface, being visible on the sides of the

shallow cut; when Amtrak recently lowered the double track about 18 inches beneath and on either side of the bridge to

allow for overhead electric wires a great amount of rock had to be chewed away from beneath the concrete ties. Wading

River, like Mansfield's other "rivers," in most parts of the United States would be termed a "creek."

If, however, the 40-foot sinking of the track was measured from the top of the artificial fill, which at its maximum is

about 25 feet high, a bog with a depth of only 15 feet would have been sufficient to entomb Whistler, and this could have

occurred at several places in Mansfield.

Tobit's, named for nearby resident John P. Tobit, is incorrectly listed in 19th century Boston & Providence timetables

and on printed tickets as "Tobey's."

20. Former New Haven R. R. bridge no. 28.43, measured in miles from end of track at South Station, Boston. In

1966 it was surrounded closely by a lush jungle of trees, brush and poison ivy.

21. My assumption is that McNeill over-optimistically had not first erected a temporary timber trestle which

customarily was built to support the dirt trains and then buried by the accumulating earthwork. Had he done so, the track

and Whistler probably would not have sunk. Was it a case of the depth of the swamp exceeding the length of available

pilings? Or an attempt to save time or money? The weight of Whistler's loaded tender (12,820 pounds, to be precise) is

given in Boston & Providence R. R. Feb.-Mar. 1835.

22. Filled material if compacted by heavy construction equipment may settle 5%, uncompacted material 15%. The

settling may, however, go on for one or two years.

23. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 333. In 1840 during construction of the Western Railroad an 1100-foot-long embankment

sank 80 or 85 feet below the surface of a swamp (Harlow 1946: 129-30).

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24. Thoreau in 1850 (Journal, v. 2, p. 13) described "a meadow through which the Fitchburg Railroad passes by a

very high causeway, which required many a carload of sand, where the laborers for a long time seemed to make no

progress, for the sand settled so much in the night that by morning they were where they were the day before, and finally

the weight of the sand forced upward the adjacent crust of the meadow with the trees on it many feet, and cracked it for

some rods around." On 19 Apr. 1860 he wrote of and illustrated the sinking of the new Concord-Bedford highway into a

swamp.

Sheldon (1862/1988: 137) tells of a county road built over a half mile of marsh in Brookline, Mass.: "After the road

was completed over the reclaimed swamp, and we had passed over it with heavy loads for several days, down went about

ten rods [165 feet] of it out of sight, and at once water flowed over to the depth of thirty-five feet. To buy the gravel and

fill up this enormous mouth was quite an expense . . . ."

One would like to know (I am often asked the question, but cannot answer it) in which of several possible ways

Whistler sank. Did it roll downgrade along the sinking track until it disappeared while still on the rails, did it drop

straight down as if in a descending elevator, or did it topple and capsize sideways, which perhaps would have made it

easier to find and salvage?

25. Sheldon (1862/1988: 91) writes of sounding 15 feet of "common marsh mud" with an iron rod. The difficulty of

such work is, as I have found, not in driving the rod down, but in pulling it out. If water from Wading River flowed 40

feet deep over the submerged Boston & Providence track (though I have difficulty picturing this), sounding the depth

would have been simple.

26. It is not clear to me when Lee, who from the beginning had assisted with the Boston & Providence civil

engineering surveys, replaced McNeill, who had other fish to fry, as the road's superintendent; it may have been in 1833

when McNeill's attention was partially diverted to construction of the Stonington railroad.

27. Barrett 1996: 89.

28. Boston & Providence R. R. Feb.-Mar. 1835. Again, I defer discussion of the duplicate Whistler question until

later.

29. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 80.

30. U. S. Treasury Report, C. Fisher 1943-98: 9.

31. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324.

32. C. Fisher, in repeating the U. S. Treasury Report listing a Stephenson engine named Whistler on Boston &

Providence in 1838 (C. Fisher 1943-98: 9), makes no mention of his previous finding that the engine was lost in a

Mansfield bog or that, evidently, it had been recovered and restored to service. I give A. M. Levitt credit for putting the

bee in my bonnet in 1998 that perhaps Whistler had been resurrected, though more recently, for reasons that may be as

valid as mine, he does not accept my opinion that the engine was exhumed from the bog, and remains "totally

unconvinced that Whistler is not down there!" (pers. comm. 2002). He also writes (Levitt 2002: 3): "I personally have

been researching the Whistler mystery for over a decade, and have concluded that Whistler remains in the bog!" He adds

that "one cannot help but be intrigued and enticed by the Whistler-in-the-bog mystery! Or, is it a myth?".

One would think that "such an unusual undertaking [as salvaging the sunken Whistler] would have been somehow

documented along the way in the press of the day – in an era when any railroad happening was big news." (J. W.

Swanberg, pers. comm. 2002.) Yet, as has been said, no mention whatever of the new railroad or its various activities is

to be found in Mansfield's municipal records, which tell us nothing of the subsidence of the roadbed or the sinking of

Whistler (there was no local newspaper until 1873), while the Providence Daily Journal and the Boston Advertiser

146

mention (well afterward) only the fact of the roadbed sinking but say nothing of the loss of the locomotive. Neither did

Isaac Stearns, that perspicacious recorder of all things in and about Mansfield, who took the trouble to be a passenger on

the first steam train from Boston to Canton, appear to be aware of Whistler and its adventures. Perhaps the B&P

management were simply too embarrassed at the whole affair to allow the story to get out, especially if the road's

shareholders should learn of it. Or it might be that because the accident and the presumed salvage efforts occurred in a

rural area well away from the center of town no one locally save for a few nearby farmers took notice of it. As to the

multiple-Whistler theory, read on.

33. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) worries that if Whistler "was de-bogged, disassembled, and shipped off to

Boston for repair, then the nature of her original assembly (wherever that took place) would have had to be such to

enable this." In my opinion, other than that the smokestack might have been knocked off, probably little or no

disassembly or reassembly was needed; but if so, George Washington Whistler had only to be summoned down from

Lowell Locks & Canals where as superintendent and engineer 1834-37 he had put together several Planet-type engines

like Whistler from "kits" shipped from England. And George Griggs, as a former Locks & Canals employe who came to

Boston & Providence in 1834, presumably knew all there was to know about the nuts and bolts of Stephenson

locomotives.

34. Sheldon (1862/1988: 110) writes that in 1836 he and another "agreed to contract for the drawing of enough rails

for nearly eight miles of railroad, from Wilmington [Mass.] to Andover. This winter, twenty oxen were employed . . . ."

(See also op. cit.: 122.)

35. Levitt (ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 10; pers. comm. 2002) suggests the possibility, which had occurred to me

also, "that the Boston and Providence quite possibly owned two additional locomotives named Whistler, and that these

were possibly renamed Lowell and Providence . . . ." This question is discussed in my next chapter.

36. Harlow 1946: 109. As previously noted, the U. S. Treasury Report for 1838 (says C. Fisher 1943-98: 9) lists

Whistler, built by Stephenson in Newcastle, on the Boston & Providence locomotive roster of that year. The name

Massachusetts probably was given to the engine at a later date. The railroad afterward rostered a second Massachusetts,

built in its own shops in 1846, so that the original Whistler/Massachusetts must have been retired or scrapped by that

year, although unsubstantiated rumors have the original Whistler/Massachusetts languishing in storage at Providence

until about 1850 (E. Stange, pers. comm. 2002).

37. A laborer with a hand shovel was assumed to be able to dig up and load 12 cubic yards of earth in a 10-hour work

day (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 357; to me, having done a good deal of shoveling in my time, this doesn‟t sound like much – perhaps there is an error in the translation). To my estimate would have to be added the unknown amount of material

needed to restore the sunken part of the earthwork to its original level. Total cost of digging, loading and delivering the

earth from the borrow pit or cut to the work site plus construction of the embankment could have run anywhere from

$100,000 to $150,000, if Gerstner's figures of 20 to 30 cents per cubic yard (ibid.: 356) held true and my estimates of the

volume are approximately correct. The Wading River fill probably contained more material than the two combined large

fills leading up to the Canton Viaduct.

38. Plotted by me on Hewins' 1831 pre-railroad map of Mansfield.

39. Copeland 1930a. It has been proved that bringing a passenger railroad to town these days greatly increases and in

some cases doubles property values – and real estate taxes.

40. The highway arrangement in East Foxboro has been changed considerably since the early days of the railroad.

Originally, the south part of Summer St. and the north part of Morse St. were one. The northernmost Summer St.

147

crossing existed in my youth.

41. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 367. This hike took place only three or four weeks after Stearns had been unable to work

because of a severe swelling of his left foot accompanied by discharge of blood and pus, so that he "Cannot walk or

stand on it without its bleeding and pain." A tough little man!

42. Buck c1980, v. 2: 368. Jacob 1926, Fisher Sept. 1938: 79, Harlow 1946, Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29 and

1986: 11, Barrett 1996: 89, Brown 1987: 7, and NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 4 also record 12 Sept. as the date of the first run

to Canton.

43. Galvin 1987: 4. Barrett (1996: 89), as previously noted, also says Whistler pulled the first train.

44. Harlow 1946: 109.

45. Copeland (1930a) uses this term. She states that the passengers on arriving at the unfinished viaduct left the train

and "walked around to the other side" which, though there might have been some stalwart hikers and climbers among

them, seems unlikely, especially if women, small children, the portly and the elderly, not to mention the sick, lame or

lazy, were involved.

46. Canton Hist. Soc., undated. The Old Stone Factory, later Emerson & Cuming, was built in 1824. It would be

more than 8-1/2 months before the journey south of the viaduct could be completed by rail instead of by highway.

47. I can offer no explanation for the remark in OFA 1850: 27 that the Boston & Providence Rail Road opened for

passengers 15 Nov. 1834.

48. Harlow 1946: 109. The Cuba railroads were built on the same principle as Boston & Providence; the main line

track runs straight down the centerline of the island, with right-angle branches to important towns and cities situated off-

line.

49. Harlow 1946: 109-10.

50. A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002.

51. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 79; A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002. Harlow 1946: 110 dates the

Dedham Branch opening at Dec. 1834. Whether December or February, the opening occurred during one of the coldest

New England winters then on record.

52. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 325, 366-7. The word "laying" is Gerstner's. It is not clear whether this figure, which

comes to $17,937 per mile, includes land purchase, surveying and grading or is simply the cost of putting down the

track.

53. A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002.

54. Even if Boston & Providence had a borrowed construction engine at work on the south end of the line, that would

have been no help to the Dedham service.

55. Commuter service to Boston was begun on the Dedham Branch and the Boston & Worcester Rail Road at about

the same time.

56. Harlow 1946: 110. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 582) comments that, "From an economic standpoint, horse power is

to be preferred for very short sections of railroad. The loss of time as compared with using steam carriage is also not

significant." The fare of 12-1/2 cents equaled a New York shilling, an odd monetary unit that will be discussed in detail

later. A half cent U. S. coin was in official legal use from 1793 to 1857.

57. Barrett 1996: 89, Levitt 1997. The first passenger trains of the Boston & Worcester, whose track Boston &

Providence crossed on Roxbury Flats, consisted of cars shaped like stagecoaches containing a dozen persons and

running on single trucks (Barrett 1996: 122), but such cars appear not to have been used in Boston & Providence

148

mainline steam trains. It is not clear whether a letter written by a B&P passenger to the Boston Daily Advocate of 8 Oct.

1835 which speaks of stages "formerly running on this same route between Providence and Boston" refers to vehicles

once used on the turnpike between those two cities or to the type of cars previously employed by the railroad, perhaps

between Canton and Providence.

58. Published photographs may be found in Belcher 1938, Beebe and Clegg 1952: 37, C. Fisher 1919-74: 4,

Humphrey and Clark 1985: 7 with a correction by the same authors 1986: 10, Turner and Jacobus 1986: 4, Swanberg

1988: 41 and Barrett 1996: 90. Without doubt there are many others. I own an unpublished photo of one of these cars

taken by a New Haven R. R. company photographer at South Station, Boston, in 1935, when it was on exhibit alongside

the new streamlined Comet. The photographer gave the print to my father.

59. Swanberg 1988: 41.

60. J. H. White, Jr., in Trains Apr. 1978, p. 55. The erroneous claim had previously been made that the Boston &

Providence horse cars were built in England.

61. Attleboro-North Attleboro (Mass.) Sun Chronicle 8 Aug. 1974, evidence of Mabel Maddocks, Plainville Hist.

Comm.; she had a photograph of the car. I thought originally that the Plainville car was a third coach, different from the

preceding two, but was told that this car is the same as the one exhibited at South Station in 1935 alongside the Comet.

(F. D. Donovan pers. comm. 2003.)

A brief article in American machinist, reprinted in Sci. Am. Suppl. (20 May 1905, p. 403), describing the proposed

acquisition of Purdue University from the NYNH&H R. R. of the Griggs engine Daniel Nason, goes on to tell us: “The university is also to become the custodian, in behalf of the same railway, of a stage-coach passenger car which is said to

have been placed in service in 1835. It consists of the body of a stage coach suspended over a simple railway truck by

means of thorough braces. It will seat inside and on its top about twenty persons.” 62. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324.

63. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) suggests, perhaps tongue in cheek, that a dowser might have been able to do the

job with better results and at less cost than the unsuccessful "fancy technology." Having witnessed some alleged

"dowsing" attempts and even myself tried the doubtful art (failing to "find" water while standing on a log bridge over a

brook!), I cannot agree.

64. Boston & Providence R. R. Feb.-Mar. 1835, courtesy of D. Forbes. Again, the possibility that B&P had obtained

a second engine also named Whistler, or even that "Whistler" had become a generic term for any all locomotives of that

period, must not be discounted and will be discussed.

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9 – A ride on the wild side aboard Whistler

If no trace of the locomotive Whistler itself, not even its tender, could be detected under the West

Mansfield causeway, what more exciting an artifact could one ask for than a performance report,

hand-written by an official – perhaps the railroad‟s young master mechanic George S. Griggs himself (we will hear more of him shortly) – standing with feet braced on the jouncing, rattling footplate of

Whistler on a frosty February morning, peering over the shoulder of the brave engineer as the latter's

gloved hand jockeyed the throttle lever in response to the rising and falling grades between Boston

and Canton? For me, more than any document I've seen while compiling my history, this brought the

early Boston and Providence Rail Road to life!

Of course I'm guessing, and even amateur historians shouldn't guess. The official might not have

been George Griggs.[1] And whoever he was, he may have been perched on the tender to keep out

of the way of the engine crew, holding onto his hat while now and then ducking the sparks and

billows of wood smoke from Whistler's seven-foot-tall fluted stack. And perhaps if I stopped trying

to paint pictures and took a hard look at the report I might see that the writing is too smooth and

regular to have been scribbled with cold-cramped fingers while standing on the exposed deck of a

moving engine or sitting on the wood pile in the tender – most likely it was rewritten in the

sanctuary of a warm office, with a piping-hot cup of coffee at hand, from notes made while aboard

Whistler. But wherever the report was written, the writer was there, and whoever reads it is there,

too.

The sheet is headed “Notes of a trip made by „Whistler‟ on B.& P. Rail Road, Feb 16th 1835.” At Roxbury that morning the brakeman couples the locomotive onto nine cars (we are not told what

kind) carefully loaded with iron and weighing a total of 94,906 pounds. Then 11 passengers,

presumably all or in part brass collars of the road, climb aboard; somebody assumes their average

weight at 150 pounds and figures they total 1650 pounds, which added to the weight of the cars

gives the little engine a trailing load of 96,556 pounds.

With a roaring hot firebox and a rattle of loose-jointed couplings the train pulls away from the car-

house at 10:04 a. m. The presiding official grips his watch in his hand and keeps an eye peeled for

the numbered plane markers set beside the track, carefully checking the time to the nearest quarter

minute. Six minutes at a leisurely pace takes them to the foot of Plane 2 near Roxbury, a distance of

something over a mile and a half. Then up Planes 2 and 3, the speed gradually picking up to 23 miles

150

per hour. Plane 7: a 0.23 percent downgrade with no curves, through what later commuters knew as

Clarendon Hills, 90 seconds for the 0.78 mile, a clattering 31 mile-per-hour average, the fastest leg

of the run, Whistler's five-foot drive wheels churning at a hair-raising three revolutions per second,

the men aboard the footplate holding on for dear life as the engine noses from side to side and

thumps on an occasional gaping rail joint, while the Irish fireman heaves pitch pine sticks into the

blazing firebox.

At Readville the Dedham Branch switch is found to be set wrong; stop for a minute to align the

points of the turnout. Then an easy two-mile lope across dead-flat Fowl Meadow, where the engineer

shuts off “nearly one half steam the last half of this stretch,” yet (the fireman having done his work more than well enough) Whistler's boiler retains enough reserve to enable him to blow off steam

“abundantly going up the last planes” where the grade steepens to 0.47 percent and then to 0.71 percent approaching the unfinished Canton viaduct. Here on the beginning of Sharon hill the train

rolls to a halt at 10:51 a. m. Overall time including the Readville stop, 47 minutes, during which the

firebox eats up one third of a cord of pine wood. No speed record, but a nice run.

The performance is repeated 6 March – nine cars weighing 76,647 pounds this time, the tender

loaded with wood and water 12,820 pounds, total 89,467 pounds. Time from Boston depot to Canton

42 minutes. “Nearly two thirds steam throttle off while running the two miles over Fowl meadows and steam abundantly blown off” while ascending the final grade. “Tarry” one hour 13 minutes at Canton while the engine is turned and serviced and the bearings are checked for overheating (the

back of the engineer's hand serving as a temperature gauge, probably); return trip 46 minutes, a total

of two hours 41 minutes “during which 40.20 lb water was evaporated and 3-3/4 foot pine wood

consumed.”[2]

But now we must ask: Was this engine the original Whistler, the 1832 English-built machine

raised from the West Mansfield bog? Alan M. Levitt, who first suggested to me the probability that

Whistler had been salvaged after its sinking, also suggested the reverse possibility that it had not

been rescued and that the “Whistler” reported to have pulled the first steam-powered passenger runs

from Boston to Readville and Canton in August and September 1834 and which we know, from the

above report, to have been road tested in February and March 1835 was either the engine Lowell or

Philadelphia. Let's examine those possibilities.

It is true that in 1835 Boston and Providence purchased two locomotives listed by Edson[3] as

Lowell, ex-Whistler #2, and Providence, ex-Whistler #3. (Edson styles Boston and Providence's first

engine as Whistler #1.) The two 1835 engines evidently were so called because they were built by

George Washington Whistler at Lowell Locks and Canals, where they bore construction numbers 4

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and 5. Edson's use of “ex-“ suggests to me that the two engines were received by their purchaser under the names and numbers immediately following; but whether these were “official” names painted or embossed on metal nameplates attached to the locomotives' flanks I do not know. It is my

opinion that “Whistler No. 2" and “Whistler No. 3" were preliminary or honorary or order-book

nicknames, replaced before the engines entered service with their official Boston and Providence

names, Lowell and Providence.

Whichever the case, clearly these 1835 engines could not have been used to pull Boston and

Providence trains in 1834. They may have entered road service early enough in 1835 so that one or

the other could have been the Whistler referred to in the steaming and fuel tests in February and

March of that year. However, I think not; I believe the official who authored the report would have

written “Whistler No. 2" or “Whistler No. 3" at the head of his sheet had either of those been the

subject of the tests. By writing simply “Whistler” he meant, in my opinion, the original Stephenson engine of that name.

There can be little question, however, that the first Whistler remained on the Boston and

Providence locomotive roster at least through 1839. A United States government report[4] of 1838

lists a Stephenson engine on the property at the end of that year, and the accurate Gerstner[5] reports

a Stephenson engine built in Newcastle, England, on the roster in 1839. Whistler was the only

Stephenson machine the railroad ever owned. One might cavil that Boston and Providence could

have bought, unknown to us, another Stephenson engine. But I invoke the principle of parsimony

enunciated by William of Occam in the 14th century, known also as Occam's Razor, which

(paraphrased) states that simple explanations that fill the bill are better than complicated ones; [6]

and this leaves little doubt in my mind that if Whistler did sink in Mansfield's bottomless bog, it was

raised and returned to service.

Some time after these test runs Whistler was given a new name: Massachusetts.[7] Perhaps this

occurred just before through train service to Providence began (the steaming and fuel tests may have

been a preliminary to the engine being assigned to these longer runs). New brass nameplates would

have been bolted to its sides and it would have been polished up to a fare-thee-well in readiness for

regular daily revenue service over the 42 miles of gleaming rails between the state capitals of

Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Its owners may have succeeded in making it so attractive-looking

that patrons and passengers might even mistake it for a new machine, hence the new name

Massachusetts.

* * *

It is not recorded whether the directors of the Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation were

152

distressed to see other New England roads getting ahead of them, but one could suppose they were.

On 27 May 1835 Whistler's alleged big brother John Bull (or Stephenson), with an imported English

“driver” at the throttle and Boston and Lowell superintendent George Washington Whistler riding behind it in a car with two other officials, pulled the first non-revenue trial round trip between those

two cities.[8]

By coincidence, on the same day down in West Mansfield, Stephen Smith transferred a parcel of

land by warrantee deed to Boston and Providence.[9] This lot formed a triangle on both sides of the

track, and included most of a little pond which still exists on the east side of the three-barreled stone

box culvert of John Hodges Brook.

* * *

Perhaps the most difficult and confusing part of Boston and Providence's early history revolves

around the entry of the railroad into the state of Rhode Island and the city of Providence. Some of

the confusion arises from those historians who, out of unfamiliarity with the local geography, place

India Point on the east or Massachusetts bank of Seekonk River. The river bends as it nears

Providence Harbor, changing from a southwesterly to a westerly direction. India Point is on the north

shore of this latter reach of the river in the eastern part of the city of Providence. Other writers

confuse India Point with Fox Point, just over a half mile further west.

Thickening the historical fog is the fact that, as heretofore mentioned, until 1862, when the state

line was moved eastward, the Seekonk River divided the Bay State from Rhode Island, and what is

now East Providence, Rhode Island, was then part of Seekonk, Massachusetts.

It may be recalled that on 10 May 1834 the so-called Providence and Boston Railroad and

Transportation Company, Rhode Island's confusingly upside-down version of the Boston and

Providence Rail Road, was authorized by that state's legislature to build a bridge across Seekonk

River to permit entry of the railroad into the Rhode Island capital, but had not done so.

The brackish Seekonk is no insurmountable obstacle, being 300 to 400 feet across at its narrowest

place between Fort Hill and India Point. Yet since the earliest times it had posed a barrier out of all

proportion to its size to communication eastward of Providence. Roger Williams canoed across it.

The state of Rhode Island had long operated ferries between Seekonk village and the capital. These

craft were of all shapes and sizes: long rowboats, flat scows and small sailing vessels.[10] In 1793

John Brown built the first bridge across the Seekonk near the site of the 1930 Washington Bridge,

replacing the previous ferry service. Until 1835 this wagon crossing, called India Bridge, still existed

as the only way to get over the river at Providence.[11] But lacking a railroad bridge, Boston and

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Providence passengers arriving at the Seekonk terminal were still inconvenienced by having to

detrain and clatter across India Bridge into Providence jammed into horse-drawn omnibuses.

By June 1835, the railroad was essentially completed except for Canton viaduct and the Seekonk

River bridge.[12] Probably shortly after that, the Rail Road and Transportation Company at last built

their own bridge at India Point, necessitating an abrupt U-bend in the approach track east of the

river. Because it would have obstructed water traffic moving between Providence Harbor and

Seekonk River, the new bridge was made with one movable span operated by manpower, the other

span being a traditional New England covered wooden bridge [13] within the combustible confines

of which the locomotive firemen tried to keep their sparks, cinders and smoke to a minimum. This

small but vital extension with its drawbridge, terminal buildings and other accessories cost its parent

company $95,000.[14] Only then, for the first time, did Boston and Providence Rail Road, with the

exception of the missing link at Canton, actually connect the two capital cities, the distance between

the terminals, one at Pleasant Street, the other at India Point, being about 42 miles.

Another abrupt slow-speed curve, this one with a radius of only 500 feet (11.5 degrees), the

sharpest on the railroad, was necessary in approaching the new Providence station at India

Point;[15] one can almost hear the wheel flanges shrieking against the railheads as the cars inched

around this tight bend. Travelers to and from the railroad were put up near the terminal at a famous

inn called (take your choice) Tockwotten Hall, Hotel or House, whose grounds, somewhat changed

over more than a century, now make up Tockwotten Park, bounded by Fox Point Boulevard and Ives,

East and Wickenden Streets.

It was not until 1837, however, that the Balkan border restrictions were relaxed when an act of the

Massachusetts legislature allowed the true Boston and Providence Rail Road – that is, the original

Massachusetts corporation – to lay track or construct buildings in the state of Rhode Island, at the

same time that the New-York, Providence and Boston (the "Stonington") was empowered to build in

the Ocean State.[16]

Providence, then as in the late 20th century, was an up-and-coming place. Built on three hills

which, however, did not protect it from the devastation and downtown flooding of the “September Gale” (hurricane) of 1815, Providence had recovered nicely from that disaster. In November 1831 it

had been incorporated as a city; its first mayor, Samuel Bridgham, was inaugurated at his 1790

Georgian Colonial home on North Court Street in 1832.

In addition to its fine public school system and (cresting appropriately named College Hill) Brown

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University, the city boasted six academies and more than 80 small private schools. The Franklin

Lyceum had been founded in 1831. The Arcade, a block-long, three-story bank of fashionable shops

designed by architect Russell Warren and built in 1828 of Rhode Island granite, presented its Greek

Revival facade, each entrance flanked by six massive Ionic columns, to shoppers and travelers. The

city's surroundings, a pleasant picture of green hills and shoreline set off by the spreading blue

waters of Narragansett Bay, must have looked as attractive to incoming train riders as they do to

those who look down from the constricted windows of inbound airliners. Yet in 1835 even the most

hopeful citizens of Providence must have seen in the tea leaves that their city was destined to

become only a way station on the grander route from Boston to New York.

By 2 June 1835 Providence's terminal station and the railroad bridge across the river were in

service, because an inspection trip on that day is recorded as having departed “the depot on India Point.”[17] Next day, the Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company (of Rhode

Island) leased its Seekonk River bridge and India Point terminal to the real Boston and Providence

Rail Road Corporation (of Massachusetts).[18] But as if wanting to blow more smoke into the fog

bank, the Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Corporation and the Boston and

Providence Rail Road Corporation maintained separate identities and kept separate sets of books

until 1853.[19]

* * *

The Boston and Providence which for a year had put on a brave show with its one or two tired

little locomotives left over from construction days was badly in need of fresh motive power. So they

sallied forth in 1835 and purchased a fleet of seven shiny new machines, two of them from England

but this time not from Robert L. Stephenson. This was the largest number of locomotives put in

service by Boston and Providence in a single year during the railroad's entire corporate

existence.[20]

It‟s time now to pause for a look at the top-notch young man that the Boston and Providence

management had put in charge of their engines and rolling stock. That was George Smith Griggs

(1805-1870), whose official title was either “master mechanic” or “mechanical superintendent.” Young Griggs was an old-line Yankee whose immigrant ancestor, also named George Griggs, had

come with his wife and five children from the county of Buckinghamshire, England, to New

England exactly 200 years before.

“Our” George Griggs began his professional life as a millwright in Waltham, Massachusetts.

155

When his employer died in 1831, Griggs somehow came to the attention of George Washington

Whistler, who induced the young man to remove to Lowell. There, at the Locks and Canals

Corporation of which Whistler was superintendent, George Griggs became a machinist and learned

how to build locomotives, probably by assembling the knocked-down engine John Bull/Stephenson

that the Boston and Lowell road had imported in 1832 from the Stephenson works and perhaps too

even Boston/Whistler. Lieutenant Whistler kept in regular communication with Superintendent W.

Raymond Lee of the Boston and Providence, and in 1834 Lee hired the 29-year-old Griggs to take

charge of his steam power.[21]

Whistler's loss was Lee's gain. Griggs spent the remainder of his working life with the Boston and

Providence. At first he turned his talents to organizing his department. But he went on to distinguish

himself by his many original improvements to locomotives, especially the conversion from burning

wood to coal in the 1850s, while (it must be said) at the same time continuing to turn out engines of

a favorite but increasingly obsolescent design that left the motive power of his road lagging behind

that of other companies.

Despite their unhappy experiences with Long and Norris's anthracite-burners, Boston and

Providence decided to buy three more engines from the American Steam Carriage Company in

Philadelphia. Stephen H. Long's designs having proved a failure, he had resigned from the firm in

1834, leaving William Norris in full control. Perhaps it was this change that caused Boston and

Providence to decide they could trust the Philadelphia builder. Norris, whose standardized engines

came in three sizes, remained in business from 1835 until 1853. Unfortunately, his machines of the

early period appear in large part to have been lemons. It was not until the next year that, thanks to a

competent mechanical engineer named Joseph Harrison whom Norris hired, the firm produced a

successful locomotive, and that came along too late for Boston and Providence.

The first two engines received in 1835 from Norris's works were named Canton and Dedham. It

very likely was one of these that would fail to perform on the upcoming press run of 2 June. Both

had the customary two drive wheels and two leading wheels (2-2-0 type).[22] Their mechanical

specifications are not recorded and no drawings of pre-1837 Norris products are known to exist.

They were gone from the Boston and Providence roster by 1838, which suggests a short and

unsatisfactory life. There is a record that Canton was sold in 1848 to the Norfolk County

Railroad.[23] If so, it must have rusted quietly in an unserviceable state on Boston and Providence

property for 10 or 11 years. Dedham was sold some time before 1838, but there is no known account

of the buyer.

It is possible either Canton or Dedham burned hard coal from Pennsylvania; records indicate that

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Boston and Providence received three anthracite-burners from Norris, the other two being the ill-

fated Black Hawk and Lincoln. Norris claimed that the coal-burners sold to Boston and Providence

worked well but that the firemen did not like handling anthracite.[24] That dislike is not hard to

understand.

The third Norris engine, Philadelphia, represented a departure, as it introduced the four-wheel

leading truck to the Boston and Providence; in other words, it was a 4-2-0 or so-called Bicycle type,

which until about 1842 was the most popular wheel arrangement in the United States. The advantage

of the four-wheel truck with its center bearing was that, as a three-legged stool is more stable than

one with four legs, its three-point suspension was able to adapt itself to rough track, sharp curves and

switches. At the same time, having more wheels under the engine allowed for an increase in weight

and hence in adhesion and tractive power. Nothing is known about the Philadelphia's specs, either.

One source says it came with a small cab for the enginemen;[25] if so, it was the first cab on a

Boston and Providence locomotive.

Philadelphia probably was delivered somewhat later in the year than the first two Norris engines

of 1835. Behind its delivery lurks an interesting and somewhat mysterious story. It appears that this

engine was tried out first on the Boston and Worcester, where president Nathan Hale[26] of that

road, in announcing the first passenger runs in March 1834, referred to it as the Rocket and informed

the public that it was “waiting the arrival of the builder for subjecting it to a trial . . . .” But the Worcester line's “real” Rocket, built by Stephenson in England, did not enter service until 26 May

1835.[27] One historian theorizes “for what it is worth” that Hale had the idea of naming the Norris engine in honor of George Stephenson's original Rocket. This romantic notion, if true, went for

naught. Despite the fact that Norris himself apparently did come up from Philadelphia to oversee the

setting up and testing of the locomotive, Boston and Worcester was displeased with his creation and

fluffed it off on the Boston and Providence, which, with the idea of pacifying its builder or perhaps

with daydreams of some day extending rails to the Quaker City, renamed it Philadelphia.[28]

Unlike some of Norris's previous machines, Philadelphia burned wood. Its ultimate disposal is not

known; it seems to have remained in active service until after 1839.

The two English-built engines received in 1835 (the last to be ordered by the Boston and

Providence from the Mother Country[29]) were interesting critters. These were Boston and New

York, both shipped across the Atlantic to New England aboard sailing vessels.

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Boston was a 2-2-0 built by Edward Bury of Liverpool, and was the only engine Boston and

Providence ordered from him. It had 60-inch drive wheels, and inside-cranked cylinders 11 inches in

diameter with a 16-inch piston stroke. Detailed mechanical specifications are available for Boston:

Weight, light: 15,590 pounds

Weight on drive wheels: 11,470 pounds

Weight, with fuel and water: 18,300, 18,350 or 18,500 pounds (depending on source consulted)

Small wheels: 3 feet in diameter

Cost: $6900 (in 1997 money $110,400)

Fuel: Dry pine. (Consumed 1-1/8 cords between Boston and Providence, approximately 42 miles.)

[30]

A reasonably accurate depiction of Boston shows it to have been a chunky, short-wheelbased little

machine with a stubby tender carried on four quite large wheels intermediate in size between the

drive wheels and the engine's “pony” wheels – perhaps four feet in diameter.[31]

Edward Bury (1794-1858) with his pushy inventiveness was one of England's most prolific

builders and Stephenson's most serious British competitor; between 1831 and 1837 he shipped 20 of

his engines to the United States.[32] A characteristic of Bury's machines immediately apparent to the

eye, and which is shown in the illustration described above, was the so-called "haystack" firebox, on

the outside circular in plan with a large squarish domed casing and top, attached to a conventional

cylindrical boiler by a circumferential throat joint. The “haystack” contained a tiny D-shaped firepot

with its flat side toward the front to permit insertion of the boiler tubes. Because the firebox had to

fit between the drive wheels, and being circular its length could not exceed its width, the fire was

necessarily small, which limited the capacity for producing steam, though the Bury boiler had

greater steam space than that used on Stephenson's slightly heavier Planet class engines such as

Whistler.[33]

Bury's interior bar frame, which he designed in 1830, although it became popular in America, had

the serious potential defect that if a crank axle broke at speed the unrestrained drive wheels would go

into orbit. Bury's engines being of limited power, however, the stress on the crank axles was low.

The fact that Bury machines were small in size and power could work to their advantage. They

were cheap to build and light on the track. They also gave reliable service; yet one can imagine

Boston, which was under-powered even by the standards of the time, struggling with Sharon hill. I

will not pretend that an 1838 description of a locomotive of the London and Birmingham Railway,

“one of Edward Bury's little engines with a tall chimney and shining brass dome,” necessarily fits

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the appearance of Boston and Providence's Bury, though it pleases me to think so. But I am also glad

that a passenger riding behind the Birmingham locomotive wrote:

With a jerk we are really on our way. The noise made by the [Bury] engine is at first somewhat

between a pant and a cough; but this becomes less distinct as our rapidity increases, for the motion of

the piston which occasions the coughing sound, when it becomes rapid, connects the sound into a

continuous burring noise . . . by no means as unpleasant as the noise of the stage coach.[34]

Edward Bury must have done an outstanding job with Boston because, small and one-of-a-kind as

it was, it remained on the Boston and Providence roster (although apparently not all that time in

active service) until the late date of September 1863 when, evidently with some life left in the old

girl yet, it was sold to the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad and became their number 7.[35]

New York, also a 2-2-0, was a leggier and thus presumably faster locomotive than Boston, though

it weighed 11 short tons; it had 66-inch drivers and 11 by 18-inch cylinders. This engine was built by

George Forrester, a smaller builder, also of Liverpool,[36] and not only was it the lone Forrester

machine on the Boston and Providence, it had the distinction of being the only Forrester engine

exported to the United States.[37]

George Forrester (sometimes spelled “Forester”) was a mechanic who set himself up as a locomotive builder. Like any good mechanic, he became annoyed by the inaccessibility of the

popular inside cylinders of the day. His standard engines, the first of which had gone to work in

Ireland in 1834, carried the cylinders outside the wheels, as was to become practically a universal

practice with American though not British builders. The frames also were outboard of the wheels (a

method of construction used later mostly on narrow gauge engines) and the cylinders.

Every advantage has some accompanying disadvantage, and the fault with Forrester's engines was

that their wide-apart cylinders and outside drive rods, together with their short wheelbase, caused

them to bob, weave, waddle and sway, their unsteady running, which must have been unpopular with

the enginemen, earning them the nickname in England of “boxers.”

The ultimate disposal of New York is not known. It presumably was gone from the Boston and

Providence roster by 1854, when the company acquired a second engine of the same name.

Not only were locomotives imported from England, but on 6 February 1837 the Boston and

Providence ordered 38 locomotive wheel tires from the firm of James Brown and Company in

Liverpool.[38]

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The other two engines bought by Boston and Providence in 1835 were American-built and came

from the Lowell machine shop of Locks and Canals, superintended by George Washington Whistler.

As has been mentioned, these engines, probably in deference to their builder or possibly to the

original Whistler, now renamed Massachusetts, which they resembled almost exactly, were known at

first by the generic titles of Whistler No. 2 and Whistler No. 3, but officially became christened

Lowell and Providence. Lowell carried Locks and Canals construction number 4 and Providence had

construction number 5.[39]

Both were 2-2-0 types with 60-inch drivers and 11 by 16-inch cylinders.[40] Locks and Canals

built locomotives from 1835 to 1844, and Whistler, who though a world-class civil engineer was no

great shakes as a locomotive designer, seemed content to turn out clones of Stephenson's Planet class

of 1830 – in other words, they were copies of Boston and Providence's first Whistler which he and

George Griggs presumably had put together at Lowell from a British “kit” in 1832. In fact, until 1840 Locks and Canals built nothing but Planet imitations.

Lowell and Providence did have the good points of being familiar to Griggs and his mechanics at

Roxbury shop and to the enginemen who handled them. In the opinion of Locks and Canals, an

opinion not shared by too many other Americans, the Planet class were “the best we have seen, either from England or built here.”[41] Unlike Bury's engine, the drive wheels of this model were

restrained by their deep outside plate frames and thus were unable to part company with the engine if

a crank axle broke. Locks and Canals found their pseudo-Stephenson fireboxes, which they

connected to the boiler with a flanged vertical throat sheet, much easier to build than the domical

Bury version. But the steam capacity of the Planet model was too limited.

One must not think that these new locomotives performed flawlessly. Even today engines and

trains newly placed in service suffer multiple “teething problems” – Amtrak's Acela provides an

example! In the 1830s it was one thing after another to keep George Griggs and his shopmen busy:

broken axles, journals or crankshafts, bent or broken drive rods, frozen water hoses, clogged pumps,

couplings pulled apart, burst boiler tubes, steam failures, often resulting in horses having to come to

the rescue of stranded trains. In one Boston and Providence engine the boiler water was allowed,

probably by a careless hostler, to freeze solid![42] Nothing improves a repair man's skill like

frequent breakdowns, and Yankee mechanics, who of necessity were rapidly becoming the world's

best and most innovative, were kept on the jump maintaining this pioneer motive power.

Lowell may have been gone from the Boston and Providence roster as early as 1839, which would

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seem to indicate that it was less than satisfactory. Providence lasted longer, but was not in use by

1849, when a second engine of that name was purchased.

The locomotives Boston, New York, Lowell, Providence and Philadelphia are described as being

30-horsepower “high” pressure engines; but practically every engine at that time, either locomotive or stationary, was called “high pressure,” so the term is relatively meaningless.[43]

To sum up, following is my best guess as to the confusing Boston and Providence locomotive

roster of 1835: Whistler, built by Robert Stephenson of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1832 probably for

the Boston and Worcester, sent to Boston and Providence in 1833, renamed Massachusetts in 1835

or after; Lincoln, built by American Steam Carriage 1833 as an anthracite burner; rebuilt to burn

wood by William Norris 1834, returned to Boston and Providence in 1835; two more English

engines, Boston, Bury 1835, and New York, Forrester 1835; two Locks and Canals engines, Lowell,

also known as Whistler No. 2, and Providence or Whistler No. 3, both 1835; and three more

American Steam Carriage machines all built in 1835, Canton, Dedham (these two may have burned

anthracite) and Philadelphia, perhaps tested by Boston and Worcester before coming to Boston and

Providence; total locomotives, nine.

The fuel used by these early engines is an interesting matter. Stephenson's 1825 Locomotion and

1829 Rocket were designed and drafted to burn coal or coke, which as engine fuel was not regularly

used in America that early; though an apparently unsuccessful attempt to burn coke in one of Boston

and Providence's engines, probably Lincoln, was made on the morning of the Boston fire fighters'

excursion, 7 June 1834.

A. M. Levitt (pers. comm.1999) writes, “Unfortunately, I haven't found any reference to converting the fireboxes or funnels (the latter may not have required change) on the B&P's

Stephenson, Bury or Forrester locomotives (which appear to have been built to English coal-burning

standards) for wood-burning, although they surely used wood for fuel during – at least – the early

days. Dimensions given in the Robert Stephenson & Company 'Description Book Number 1' do not

provide any good basis for comparison between fireboxes for the English market in contrast to those

intended for American railways.”

Two reporters state that at first the Boston and Providence locomotives burned dry pitch pine –

this is confirmed by the Whistler tests of early 1835 – which the railroad purchased at $6.00 a cord

plus $1.00 a cord for sawing and splitting; and that later the Bury-built Boston in making the 42-mile

run between the two cities was found to burn 1-1/8 cords of wood.[44] Pitch pine (Pinus rigida),

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though it burns hot and has been used for fuel, would seem unsuitable as the resin would coat the

tubes and flues with creosote, reducing heating capacity. Perhaps, however, the fires were

maintained at a high enough heat that the creosote coating was continually burned off. Though pitch

pine grew locally (not abundantly along the line of the Boston and Providence, but it is common on

Cape Cod and in sandy soils farther inland), most of it was carried by schooner from the South.[45]

By 1839, however, Boston and Providence locomotives were burning spruce at a considerable saving

both as to the cost per cord of the wood and the mileage obtained.[46] Spruce, besides not being

generally thought of as fuel, is not a local wood and had to be brought from Canada or from northern

and western New England.

Stops for wood and water would be necessary every 15 to 25 miles – Mansfield was one of the

places where engines were given a drink and refueled from large wood yards situated beside the

track, although I do not know what water sources were used in the opening year of the railroad –

water for the engines may have been pumped directly from convenient streams.

The Boston and Providence seems early on to have given up on Pennsylvania anthracite as a bad

job. Around 20 years would pass before the railroad once again experimented with burning coal, and

it would be many more years before bituminous coal-fired engines became common.[47]

One device applied very early to railroad engines was the warning bell, which is carried now,

usually in an inconspicuous position, even on diesel and electric locomotives. Following a non-fatal

grade crossing accident on the Boston and Worcester in 1834 the Massachusetts General Court in the

following year passed a law that read:

Every locomotive in operation on a railroad must be equipped with a bell weighing at least 35 lbs. This

must be rung at a distance of at least 80 rods [1/4 mile] from every road crossing and shall continue to

be rung until the locomotive passed the crossing. On every road that the railroad crosses at grade level,

a signboard of appropriate height must also be erected, both sides of which shall bear the legend: “Rail

Road Crossing – Look Out for the Engine While the Bell Rings.”[48]

The locomotive fireman was given the duty, on top of his regular labors, of pulling the cord that

rang the bell. Thus by the end of 1835 all Boston and Providence engines had been equipped with

bells. It comes as a surprise that whistles were neither used nor required, but it is obvious from

Boston and Providence rules in effect as late as 1837 (for example, governing the potentially

dangerous level crossing with the Boston and Worcester in Boston) that the bell was the only

warning device (sometimes an inadequate one, it would seem) affixed to its engines. It would be

some time before the value of the whistle, not only for warning purposes but as a communicating

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device between enginemen, brakemen, conductors and switchmen, became realized. The engine

whistle, with its 25 or 30 coded long and short blasts, remained in use for communication up until

the advent of train radio in the 20th century.

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NOTES

1. A. M. Levitt has Griggs's signature on two payroll entries and has “compared these to the Notes.” He adds, “I would guess that the Notes are not in Griggs' hand” (pers. comm. 2002). 2. Boston & Providence R. R. Feb.-Mar. 1835, courtesy of D. Forbes.

3. Edson 1981: xvi.

4. U. S. Treasury Rep't 1838. C. Fisher (1943-98: 8, 9) accepts this report (in fact it was he who reintroduced it to

the world) and states that “this list of 1838 has stood the test of time.”

5. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324.

6. Or, in William of Occam's original words, “Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem – Entities are not

to be multiplied beyond necessity.”

7. C. Fisher, Sept. 1938: 80. The reasonable objection has been made (A. M. Levitt pers. comms. 1998, 1999) that

George W. Whistler might be offended that his name had been removed from an engine formerly called after him; or

(the other side of that coin) that Boston & Providence management would not risk offending so eminent a personage by

renaming an engine originally carrying his name. This point can best be countered by the fact that when a locomotive

named for the capable B&P master mechanic George S. Griggs blew up c1855 he refused to let the rebuilt engine carry

his name and called it by another. Traditionally, engine crews were superstitious about locomotives thought to be

“hoodooed” because of involvement in accidents, and such unlucky engines generally were renamed or renumbered before being returned to service. But Whistler retained its old name for many months after its ignominious dunking in

West Mansfield mud, so in this instance that tradition can be ruled out.

8. Harlow 1946: 87; Gustafson 1965, who claims Whistler was at the throttle.

9. Recorded at Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, Mass., 9 June 1835, v. 146, p. 398; depicted on

NYNH&H plan 62530 on file in Taunton Registry (courtesy of L. F. Flynn 1998). The triangle on the east side of the

track is identified as parcel 201 on modern Mansfield assessors' Plate 6.

10. Control of all ferries in Rhode Island passed from the state to the federal government after an 1824 court case

known as Gilbert vs Ogden.

11. “India Bridge” is shown on Hayward's Jan. 1828 horse railway survey map. 12. Greene 1953: 2.

13. Harlow 1946: 112.

14. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324, 325.

15. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

16. Found by A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 1999) in “Check list of publications on American railroads before 1841.” 17. Providence Journal 6 June 1835; Boston Advertiser 6 June 1835.

18. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 4. Harlow (1946: 112) says, if I read him correctly, that construction of the Seekonk

railroad bridge began in summer of 1835 and was “ready for use by the following December.” If the first inspection train left India Point station on 2 June 1835 and the bridge and India Point terminal lease dates from the following day

this could not have been the case. But fog continues to hang heavily over the Seekonk River and events related to it.

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19. Bayles 1891; Belcher 1938: no. 7.

20. In each of the years 1872 and 1881 Boston & Providence acquired six locomotives; these were the second

largest annual engine purchases.

21. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 70-71.

22. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71. The method of describing steam locomotive “types” by their wheel arrangement, known as the Whyte system after Frederic M. Whyte of the New York Central R. R. who introduced it in 1900, did not

come into general use until the first decade of the 20th century. I have used it ahead of its provenance for convenience'

sake.

23. Edson 1981: xvii.

24. Westwood 1977-8: 70, who adds, “Since the Norris family was not averse to deception for commercial ends, the story . . . needs to be taken with some caution.” But there is no question that anthracite, because of its slow ignition and

burning and its need for heavy draft, qualities that differ markedly from those of bituminous coal, in areas outside

Pennsylvania and England was an unfamiliar fuel that few if any knew how to manage properly. The early American

railroads made very little use of anthracite. By 1840 the Philadelphia & Columbia and the Beaver Meadow railroads in

Pennsylvania, being near or (in the latter case) in the hard coal fields, were burning anthracite in most of their engines,

although exhaust steam blowers had to be installed to provide sufficient draft for the fires. White (1968-79: 87) points

out that most of the coal mined in the U. S. at that time was anthracite, which fell short of providing the rapid

combustion needed in a locomotive, and if bituminous had been more easily available the conversion from wood to coal

might have arrived many years earlier than it did.

25. Belcher 1938: no. 3.

26. A nephew of the Revolutionary War martyr. See Harlow 1946 after p. 274 for Hale's portrait.

27. C. Fisher 1943-98: 9.

28. C. Fisher (so says Harlow 1946: 97, 97n) determined that this engine was tried by Boston & Worcester before

being turned over to Boston & Providence. The theory as to why it was temporarily called Rocket is Harlow's. Hale may

have felt the name an appropriate match for B&W's other two Stephenson engines, Meteor and Comet. Confusion may

exist between Philadelphia and the earlier Black Hawk, also said to have been tested and rejected by B&W before

coming to B&P.

29. These two locomotives and Whistler were the only English-built engines to be placed in service on Boston &

Providence. After a shaky start, American-built locomotives by the late 1830s were to prove more efficient than the

imported engines when used under rough-and-ready American conditions.

30. Gerstner 1842-3/1997: 324; C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; 1943-98: 9; Levitt 1997, from Dodd Research Center.

Gerstner gives an engine weight of 11 “American” (presumably short) tons (22,000 pounds).

31. Dodd Research Center 1998. This illustration, however, appears to have been taken from a so-called “printers' train” (a small piece of cast metal type depicting the locomotive) in Frederick Ulmer's type catalog of 1874, which is

meant to represent London & Birmingham Ry number 20 built on the Bury pattern in 1838 (Levitt 1997.) The

Providence Daily Journal in 1835 used a printers' train apparently modeled on the Boston or a similar Bury engine (A.

M. Levitt, pers. comm. 1999).

32. White 1968-79: 94. Until 1841 Bury exported 30 locomotives to 14 railroads in the U. S., including the engine

Lion to Boston & Worcester in 1836; this serviceable machine ran up 54,496 miles in three years, considerably more

than any other locomotive in B&W service (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 350). Bury customers in the southern states

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outnumbered those in the North 10 to four. It is significant that none of the three English builders each of whom sold a

locomotive to Boston & Providence ever received a repeat order from that road (Levitt 1999: 2). A. M. Levitt (pers.

comm. 2002) speculates that Bury may have been favored because of his ability to deliver locomotives promptly.

33. Lozier 1986: 415.

34. Loxton and Hamlyn 1963-70: 95.

35. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; Edson 1981: xvi. This engine may have been taken into ownership by the New York &

New England R. R. in 1873 and appears to have worked on that road for some time after that date (Levitt 1997), but

attempts to trace it beyond 1873 have been unsuccessful (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 1999).

36. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; 1943-98: 9.

37. Levitt 1999: 2.

38. B&P pres. letter book (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2004).

39. Edson 1981: xvi.

40. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; 1943-98: 9; Edson 1981: xvi.

41. White 1968-79: 8, 8n, quoting a letter from P. T. Jackson of Locks & Canals to Robert Stephenson 9 Feb. 1839

in R&LHS bull. 4, 1923: 45.

42. Harlow (1946: 101-3) lists a number of mechanical breakdowns befalling Boston & Worcester engines from

1835 to 1838, drawn from a locomotive performance book unearthed by C. Fisher and published in a R&LHS bulletin

in 1930. The Dedham Transcript of 16 Oct. 1886 tells of water, presumably in a locomotive boiler, freezing solid.

43. C. Fisher 1943-98: 5-6, 9.

44. Galvin 1987: 5; Levitt 1997, from Dodd Research Center. Although at first thought it would seem that a cord (a

stack of wood 4 by 4 by 8 feet) might contain 128 cubic feet, its actual solid volume, because of the interstices between

the sticks, is nearer 90 cubic feet. Since pitch pine weighs 32 pounds to the cubic foot, 1-1/8 cords weighs when cut

about 3250 pounds, but it was air-dried before use and therefore decreased in weight. (See below for relative heating

value of wood and coal.) In terms of 1997 money the railroad was paying $96 a cord for its wood and $16 to have it

sawed and split (Levitt 1997), prices not too far out of line with the actual costs of home-heating firewood in the late

20th century. Fitchburg R. R. locomotives also were burning pitch pine, some of it grown in Concord woodlots, as late

as 1850 (Thoreau, Journal 9 Nov. 1850). Sheldon (1862/1988: 127) tells how the coming of the railroads caused the

price of local cordwood to escalate. In 1839, as a contractor building the Boston & Maine, he learned of a woodland

that would provide 3000 cords of fuel wood, “and as soon as the railroad is in operation, every cord of that wood will be worth fifty cents more than it is now. They are now buying wood at Wilmington [Mass.] for $3 per cord, to run their

engine to East Kingston; and as soon as the cars run wood will be worth as much here as it is in Wilmington.” 45. Copeland 1936-56: 69.

46. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 328. Writing of the Mohawk & Hudson R. R. in New York state, Gerstner (op. cit.:

138) says, “The finest quality spruce is used as fuel for the steam engines. A cord (128 cubic feet, weighing 2,663 lbs.) cost $5 delivered. In the forest the same wood costs only 50 cents per cord, but it must travel some 100 miles by canal,

for which freightage amounts to $2.50, and another $2 is paid for felling and for transport to the canal as well as from

the latter to the delivery site on the railroad. Sawing, splitting, and stacking in woodsheds costs an additional $1. As a

rule, wood is not used until it has dried for 6 to 8 months. Several years' experience has shown that 1-1/2 cords of

spruce are needed for 6 runs @ 14 miles = 84 miles, or 1 cord for each 67 miles. The wood is used in 2-foot pieces.

Earlier, bark would be removed as a way of preventing sparks from being thrown out, but this became unnecessary once

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the smokestacks of locomotives had been equipped with spark catchers.” For the Boston & Providence, substitute “sea

transport” for “canal.”

Of fuel used on the Saratoga & Schenectady R. R., Gerstner (op. cit.: 149) writes, “The fuel (yellow spruce) used to

operate the line costs $4 to $5 per cord, including sawing and splitting. This wood is purchased as 4-foot logs, which are

sawed and split into pieces 16 inches long and 2 or 3 inches thick. These are then stored for drying, usually for half a

year. The thick bark is always removed, because otherwise it tends to clog boiler tubes and also causes more sparks to

escape. . . . [A] cord of firewood is sufficient for 59 miles.” Yellow spruce is an alternate name for red spruce, Picea

rubens, found in the mountains of northern New England.

47. Coal imported from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nova Scotia or even Britain was too costly, and, as mentioned

before, the high-ash anthracite mined in Rhode Island and Massachusetts was of inferior quality and unreliable supply.

No doubt the cantankerous Philadelphia engines did much to prejudice the Boston & Providence against the worth of

clean-burning hard coal. Norris may have been trying to act as salesman for the product of his state's mines. In New

England, with its extensive forests, wood was the fuel with which all persons, including railway managers, master

mechanics and locomotive firemen, were most familiar.

For railroad use, the Baldwin Locomotive Works states that one cord of thoroughly air-dried pitch pine weighs about

2900 pounds and has the heating value of 1070 pounds of coal; a cord of dried spruce weighs about 2250 to 2500

pounds and equals 830 to 930 pounds of coal.

In Europe, wood had been tried for its cheapness as locomotive fuel but was given up in favor of coal and coke

because of the annoying and even dangerous sparks issuing from the smokestacks. In America, ingenious spark-

catching devices were invented (one by Griggs) that somewhat offset this decided inconvenience.

The eminent British geologist Charles Lyell, riding a North Carolina train in January 1842, picturesquely describes a

wood-burning engine after dark as “resembling a large rocket fired horizontally, with a brilliant stream of revolving sparks extending behind the engine for several hundred yards, each spark being a minute particle of wood, which, after

issuing from the chimney of the furnace, remains ignited for several seconds in the air. Now and then these fiery

particles, which are invisible by day, instead of lagging in the rear, find entrance by favour of the wind through the open

windows of the car, and, while some burn holes in the traveller's cloak, others make their way into his eyes, causing

them to smart most painfully.” (Lyell 1845: v. 1, 197.) Dickens (1842: 64, 69) more briefly describes a “whirlwind of bright sparks” behind a Boston & Lowell locomotive. 48. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 297, quoting Railroad Law for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Bells on

American locomotives were not new, though the practice was never followed in England. Camden & Amboy's John

Bull, imported disassembled from England in 1831, had a bell added when put together in the U. S. (San Diego

Railroad Museum 1999).

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10 – Charlie the faithful horse helps open Canton Viaduct

With the Rhode Island connection completed and new locomotives arriving on line, the first trip

over the full length of the road as it then existed, detouring around Canton viaduct, was scheduled

to take place only a few days after the historic Boston and Lowell maiden run. But, alas, Man

proposes and the Locomotive Gods dispose, and the first leg of this run had to be drawn not by a

proud new steam engine but by the old familiar horses.

A group of financial editors and reporters from the New York newspapers had arrived at

Providence on Monday, 1 June 1835, aboard "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt's swift, new,

luxurious but ill-fated steamboat Lexington (making its maiden voyage), at the invitation of the

Boston and Providence directors, to give the railroad an inspection next day.[1] Naturally the

company brass collars were anxious to see that their guests got the full red carpet treatment. But

they had cut the schedule too fine: their spiffy new engine that arrived from William Norris's

Philadelphia works on the same day as the newsmen and was expected to head up the run proved to

be out of kilter.

What locomotive was it that so ignominiously blew its chance to shine on opening day? It had to

be either Canton, Dedham or Philadelphia. Of the seven engines Boston and Providence purchased

in 1835 to handle their burgeoning traffic, only these three came from William Norris's American

Steam Carriage Company in the Quaker City. My guess is that it was Canton or Dedham that failed

its assignment, for the reason that both were of the conventional 2-2-0 wheel arrangement, while

Philadelphia, when it arrived, came with a four-wheel leading truck that represented an advanced

design, suggesting that it was delivered later – in fact, as previously mentioned, it probably was

purchased second hand from Boston and Worcester. And does it not seem likely that Dedham or

Canton would have been chosen to honor the completion of the Dedham Branch or the building of

the mighty stone bridge at Canton?

Whatever the name of the ailing locomotive at Providence, the line's only other workable engine,

Whistler/Massachusetts, now fretted on the wrong side of the unfinished viaduct. So, it was "Hitch

up the hosses, Hezekiah!"

The vale at Canton still being impassable by rail, it was necessary there for the passengers to

unload from the horse-drawn railcars and proceed around the viaduct by stagecoach[2] to where

Whistler, her safety valve sizzling impatiently, awaited to whisk them on to Boston.

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We can be glad that accompanying this distinguished party was a reporter from the Providence

Journal, which on Saturday, 6 June, printed his account of the trip of four days before:

Last Tuesday, by invitation of the directors, we made, in the company of a party of gentlemen, the

first passage that has ever been made over the whole length of the Boston and Providence Railroad. It

was in contemplation to have taken the new engine that had arrived from Philadelphia only the day

before, but some of her pipes were not in order, and we finally set off from the depot on India Point at

a quarter before one o'clock in the afternoon with two cars, each propelled by two horses. The

application of the horses afforded us a most fortunate opportunity for inspecting the grand

structure[3] over which we passed. The road has been graduated in such a manner that the inclination

is nowhere more than 37 feet to the mile, and it is for a short distance only, that it is any where

sufficient to retard the speed of the cars. It has been laid to endure with the everlasting hills, and is

finished with a neatness very gratifying to the eye. The viaduct at Canton, though yet unfinished, is a

stupendous work. A view of it, many times repays the trouble of passing round. The excavations and

embankments in Canton are also worthy of minute attention; they testify in strong language, to man's

dominance over nature, and his ability to overcome any obstacle to any undertaking that is not

morally or physically absurd. The project of cutting through these rocky heights [the granite cuts

north of Canton station] and crossing the valley of the river by the Viaduct, was a very bold one. A

hesitating mind would have surmounted this by a stationary engine or some less formidable way. But

any other would have detracted very much from the facilities which give value to such a road. The

road has been constructed under the direction of Major McNeill, and it will stand for ages an enduring

monument of the high talents and high attainments of its accomplished engineer. Among curiosities

on the way is the bog in Mansfield where the road sunk during its formation to a depth of 40 feet –

and it is also a curious fact that 16-1/2 miles of this road are on a perfectly straight line. After

examining the work at Canton, we took the engine at twenty minutes past five and were landed in

Boston about six o'clock.

This 40-minute journey over 14 miles distance behind the locomotive equates to an average

speed of 21 miles per hour.

The party from New York and perhaps the reporter spent Tuesday evening being entertained at

the Winter Street home of railroad president Thomas B. Wales,[4] then put up for the night in

Boston's famous Tremont House,[5] of which Dwight Boyden was proprietor, where they enjoyed

“with keen appetites and grateful hearts the overflowing hospitality” of the railroad's directors. Up early for their breakfasts, the party embarked[6] on their return trip, turnip-size pocket watches in

their hands in anticipation of timing a speedy run. And speedy it was, as both engine and engine

169

crew showed what they could do! The reporter from Providence tells us:

At fourteen minutes past six, Wednesday morning, the cars began to move from the depot at West

Boston, and at fourteen minutes before seven were exactly at the fifteen mile stone, having come

fifteen miles at the rate of 30 miles per hour [actual average, 25.9 miles per hour for 13.8 miles], two

of the miles of which we passed over in three minutes forty seconds [32.7 miles per hour], and one

mile in one minute and forty-seven seconds, or at the rate of 34 miles per hour.[7]

Transferring to the horse-drawn railcars at Canton, the party reached Providence less than four

hours after leaving Boston. Then they reboarded Lexington[8] which 12 hours later was tying up at

New York City. The dazzled editor of the New York Journal of Commerce noted that he was back at

his desk in Manhattan a miraculous 16 hours from the time he left Boston. “The railroad,” he enthused, “is a work which in days of yore might have done honor to the enterprise of an Emperor.” A highway stagecoach took three and a half to four days for the same run and gave its passengers

only four hours' sleep at each overnight stop. In less than two more months, when steam power was

able to operate with speed unchecked over the viaduct, the intercity run would be cut even shorter.

It appears that the Norris engine having been repaired (though it took an unexplained nine days

to do so after its arrival in Providence – perhaps the inconvenient distance from Roxbury shop was

to blame), on 11 June 1835 the use of horses on the south end of the line was discontinued and

steam-powered travel commenced between Providence and Canton, though passengers still had to

transfer by horse-drawn vehicle around the viaduct site.[9]

When the first revenue steam passenger train passed through Mansfield, leaving behind it a

billowing trail of pungent blue woodsmoke, Major Ira Richardson, who lived in what is now the

historic Fisher-Richardson House, was employed in shingling the roof of the old Skinner barn west

of the railroad (in the present Cabot Industrial Park just north of School Street overpass), and from

his high perch enjoyed a grandstand seat for the unforgettable event.

On Friday, 12 June, the Providence Journal carried a notice (italics theirs) that:

. . . the cars will commence running on this road for the accommodation of the public, on Monday,

the 15th inst. The cars came through from Boston yesterday morning with passengers for the

steamboat, in two hours and twenty-five minutes including five full stops . . . . When the viaduct is

completed, and the engineers become familiar with the crossings of the road . . . there can be but

little doubt that the passage will be made within two hours.

170

Was it the cars that "came through from Boston" or the passengers? The question is worth

asking, because if the cars that arrived at India Point were those that left Pleasant Street it suggests

that they were uncoupled from their engine and somehow towed around the viaduct. Since that

possibility seems unlikely, I would suppose that only the riders made the through trip, changing to a

second train of cars south of the viaduct.

How fast did these trains run? Assuming that one stop for the viaduct transfer might have

consumed 15 minutes and the other four stops took two minutes each (though contemporary reports

suggest that five minutes was common), the actual running time for the 42 miles would have been 2

hours and 2 minutes, an average speed of 20.7 miles per hour. Thus there is no question that steam,

not horsepower, was used on the Canton-Providence section.

It is apparent from the Providence Journal article that the enginemen already were having

problems at public crossings and perhaps were allowing drivers of carriages, carts and wagons

deliberately or through ignorance or carelessness to fake them out, causing them to close their

throttles and slow down even though the right-of-way was theirs. If we substitute automobiles for

horse-drawn vehicles, this is a difficulty that to this day has not been thoroughly resolved, as

witness the number of accidents at even well protected grade crossings throughout the country. But

the time was not far off when, as trains got bigger, heavier, faster and harder to stop and their

throttle jockeys bolder, engineers would develop a more cavalier attitude toward drivers as well as

to pedestrians, who would learn, often the hard way, that where a track and a road intersected, the

trains had not just actual but legal priority[10] and (as a veteran engineman said to me) were going

over the crossing whether anything or anyone was on it or not. As a matter of fact, then and now, it

was impossible for an engineer to stop his train short if someone took it into his head to play

Russian Roulette by driving or walking in front of him.

On 16 June 1835 the Providence Daily Journal carried an advertisement announcing the start of

regular train service on the “Boston and Providence Rail Road and Steamboat Line”between those two cities with, of course, a change of trains at Canton. Trains were to leave the Boston depot daily

at 9 a. m., also Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 4 p. m. with passengers for the steamboat

Lexington. A train would depart Boston on Sundays at 2 p. m. to meet the steamer for New York at

5 p. m. In the opposite direction, trains would leave Providence every morning on the arrival of the

steamboat from New York, and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons on the arrival of the

Lexington. This notice was printed over the name of J. Blaisdell, the agent at Providence.[11]

With the service came the inevitable mishaps born of inexperience. The railroad had been

operating only about 11 days when the first near accident occurred – on 26 or 27 June a car became

171

separated from its motive power not far from Providence, though apparently no one was

injured.[12] There would be worse to come.

With the Boston and Providence completed except for the viaduct, which had its own set of

mostly Scottish workmen, the gangs of Corkies who built the road were needed elsewhere. Some

stayed behind, a few to work the Mansfield coal mines or as permanent employes of the railroad

corporation, but many went to other track-laying employment. Eliphalet Williams, a director of the

Boston and Worcester road, had been elected president of the Bangor and Piscataquis Canal and

Rail-Road Company, financed in Boston and chartered in Maine on 8 February 1833. Williams

hired the same contractors who had built the Boston and Providence and they began work in June

1835 with a thousand workmen constructing a railroad out of Bangor and Old Town, with the

intention of extending it to some slate quarries farther up country.[13]

* * *

The Boston and Lowell opened for business 24 June 1835, the throttle on the first revenue run

being handled by a fancy-Dan engine driver named William Robinson, imported from England for

the occasion.[14] On 3 July Boston and Worcester, which since 16 April 1834 had been running

excursion trains over increasingly long sections of its line, commenced full-time operation between

those cities,[15] crossing at grade over the Boston and Providence track at a 49-degree angle on

what was called a "diamond" not far outside their respective terminals.[16] This diamond crossing

was situated on intersecting causeways laid across muddy Roxbury Flats immediately east of the

present Dartmouth Street and just northwest of the site now occupied by Amtrak's Back Bay station.

Today, such a crossing at grade of two main line railroads would be protected by interlocked

automatic signals and perhaps even derailing devices to halt any out-of-control train that passed a

stop signal. In 1835, because there was no automatic safeguard and always the possibility of a

collision, provisions governing the crossing's safe use were stringent. Boston and Providence Rail

Road operating regulation No. 13 states:

Rule at Worcester Railroad Crossing – When a Worcester train is coming in, the Providence train

will stop; at all other times, the Providence train goes ahead. Always ring the bell in foggy weather

or at night, when within 100 rods [1650 feet] of this crossing.

Probably the reason Boston and Worcester trains enjoyed priority over the diamond is simply

that their railroad was there first. Even so, this rule governing use of the crossing leaves a lot to

chance and to the judgment of the engineers, especially at night or when heavy rain, falling snow or

172

fog drifting in from the harbor limited visibility. Yet to my knowledge a collision never occurred

there.

The opening of regular service to Worcester left the Boston and Providence as the only one of the

three railroads originating at The Hub still not providing unbroken through steam service over its

entire main line.

On 6 July, a Monday, Isaac Stearns recorded in his diary, “To Mansfield to see the cars meet on the Rail Road from Boston to Providence. Passed by at 1/2 past 10 A. M.”[17] Stearns does not

record what attracted him to this happening; but it is clear there was a passing siding in use on the

otherwise single track at Mansfield station and that he knew the “cars” were due to meet there; Stearns correctly though perhaps inadvertently employed the word “meet,” a term still used by railroaders to describe the passing-by of two opposing trains.

Travel on these pioneer railroads sometimes had an adventurous side that bordered on the

humorous. A picky old gent named Samuel Breck on 22 July boarded a car at Pleasant Street depot,

where he got a taste of democratic travel on a trip more reminiscent of a present-day cram-jammed

airliner, presided over by a conductor who remembered how overcrowding was handled in the

stagecoach days:

This morning at nine oclock I took passage in a railroad car for Providence. Five or six other cars

were attached to the locomotive, and uglier boxes I do not wish to travel in. They were made to stow

away some thirty human beings, who sit cheek by jowl as best they can.

Two poor fellows, who were not much in the habit of making their toilet, squeezed me into a

corner, while the hot sun drew from their garments a villainous compound of smells, made up of

salt-fish, tar, and molasses. By and by, just twelve – only twelve – bouncing factory girls were

introduced, who were going on a party of pleasure to Newport. “Make room for the ladies!” bawled out the superintendent. “Come, gentlemen, jump up on the top, plenty of room there.” “I‟m afraid of the bridge knocking my brains out,” said a passenger. Some made one excuse, and some another. For my part, I flatly told him that since I had belonged to the corps of Silver Grays I had lost my

gallantry, and did not intend to move. The whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon made

themselves at home, sucking lemons and eating green apples. . . . The rich and the poor, the educated

and the ignorant, the polite and the vulgar, all herd together in this modern improvement in

travelling. . . . And all this for the sake of doing very uncomfortably in two days what would be done

delightfully in eight or ten.[18]

173

The Boston and Providence, bouncing factory girls and all, was becoming a busy railroad. Now

all that remained to be done was for McNeill to finish the one missing link – the viaduct.

* * *

As opening day approached for the great bridge the subject arose, as it does with all similar civil

engineering works nearing completion, as to whom should be given the honor of being the first to

cross. Chief engineer Major McNeill? Superintendent Lee? Master mechanic George Griggs?

Railroad president Wales? The governor, if he wasn‟t too busy? Not exactly! In George Orwell's mid-20th century novel Animal Farm the faithful horse did all the work and

for his efforts got a one-way trip to the glue factory. Not so on the Boston and Providence Rail

Road. Someone, perhaps jokingly, nominated the old white horse, Charlie, who for so many months

had ridden the flatcar of stone down the grade from Sharon Heights to the construction site and as

often patiently hauled the empty car back up the hill for another load. Hibernians, Highlanders and

Yankees for once agreed without a single cavil to this inspired choice, and old Charlie, the equine

hero of the job, was prettied up with hand brushes, led aboard the flatcar and pushed by the

cheering workmen across the viaduct and back, becoming thereby the first “passenger” to complete a round trip over the great Stone Bridge.[19]

Steam-powered work trains apparently were able to cross on 25 July[20] or even Sunday the

26th, but the viaduct was opened officially for through traffic on Tuesday, 28 July 1835,[21] 15

months and eight days after the commencement of construction, permitting all-rail running between

Boston and Providence for the first time.[22] Two days later the Boston Advertiser (its wording

intimates that quite a bit of touch-up work remained to be done, which in fact there was – the

viaduct, though formally open, was not finished in every detail until 1836[23]) reported in rather a

hearsay manner, as if the editor had not troubled to send a reporter to the historic scene:

We understand that the magnificent Viaduct at Canton is so far completed that the locomotives with

their trains of cars pass from Boston to Providence without interruption. The train which left this city

at four o'clock on Tuesday afternoon arrived in Providence in an hour and forty-seven minutes. It

returned the same evening with about a hundred passengers in two hours and three minutes.

The average speeds of the Boston and Providence Rail Road's first two express runs were 23 and

20 miles per hour, including probably five station stops. This was a wonderful rate of travel for those

who for the past two centuries had grown accustomed to the lumbering pace of stages (requiring an

overnight halt at the halfway point) over the far less than perfect roads connecting the two capitals.

These speeds were more remarkable in view of the fact that a Providence-bound train stopping at

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Canton departed that station in the face of the stiffest grade on the road, the five-mile unrelieved

climb up Sharon hill.

From that opening day, when steam locomotives first commenced hauling through trains on

regular schedules, until the present time, train service over the Canton viaduct has never ceased.

Built with a single track to handle engines weighing no more than eight to 11 tons, its builders,

Major William Gibbs McNeill, his assistant Lieutenant George Washington Whistler and the others,

had the foresight to make it wide enough for two tracks. In its time the viaduct has stood up under

the pounding of steam, diesel and now electric locomotives weighing between 100 and 350 tons,

passenger trains moving at up to 90 miles per hour (140 for Amtrak‟s Acela) and mile-long freight

trains weighing thousands of tons. So durable is the granite of which the viaduct was built that in

2000, when work crews tried to drill holes atop it for bolting down the catenary bridges needed to

hang wires for electric trains, their drill bits wore down or broke and they had to suspend work until

specially hardened bits, probably cemented tungsten carbide, were obtained.[24]

The Canton viaduct, or the Stone Bridge as it was called at first, is probably the third oldest

multiple-arch masonry railroad viaduct still standing in the United States.[25] It was, as I have

mentioned before, built wholly of granite, 613.5 feet long (by chance or design, one and a half feet

longer than the Baltimore and Ohio's eight-arched Thomas viaduct completed earlier the same year

at Relay, Maryland), 22 feet wide across the top and 60 feet high including the foundation, which

extends eight feet below the earth. The railheads are about 70 feet above the river and 55 feet more

or less above ground.

The 21 filled or blind arches – bays or pseudo-arches, they might better be termed – were

numbered by McNeill in sequence beginning at the Providence end. They are an oddity, causing

many observers over the years to think that McNeill's original design called for them to be left open

and that the “fillings” were inserted later, changing the viaduct from a series of openings supported by stone piers into a solid wall. Indeed, one looking closely at the bridge might easily convince

himself that this was so; the piers and the “filled” side walls appear to have been done at separate times, connected only by mortared joints. But this was not the case. One proof is that stones in both

the pilasters and the inner walls bear the same markings inscribed by the original Scottish

quarrymen, suggesting strongly that they were built at the same time. Open arches like those of the

Baltimore and Ohio‟s contemporaneous Thomas viaduct in Maryland would have permitted an

unobstructed view for any Cantonian standing on the ground, besides looking more picturesque. But

records, including McNeill‟original report, indicate that the arches were intended from the beginning to be filled.

175

The 22 pilasters or buttresses are 27-1/2 feet apart on centers, project 4 feet from the side walls,

are 5-1/2 feet wide, and are joined at their tops by interior segmental arches that carry the bridge

parapets. Only the side walls, piers and upper masonry are solid; between the parallel walls, which

are 4 feet thick at the top and thicker at the base, the viaduct is divided into 21 individual hollow

chambers leaving clear openings 4 feet wide, separated by the cross-buttresses, bridged by the

transverse arches atop the piers and originally roofed with large granite slabs 18 inches thick. The

upper sides of these slabs were covered with ballast rounded over or crowned, with the single track

in the center. On either side of the track, to keep escaped ballast from pelting the heads of passersby

below and to help contain the cars in case of a derailment on the bridge, was a parapet wall three feet

high; these walls were removed because of the lack of crosswise space when the viaduct was double-

tracked in 1860. A puzzling feature is that the side walls apparently are not tied structurally to the

piers, being held only by the mortar between them.[26]

Access to the hollow interior of the bridge can be gained by means of a large removable stone at

the bottom of the northeast corner, which allows inspectors to climb inside onto a platform, and by

using artificial light to inspect every joint for defects.[27]

The opening through the stonework of arch number 9 for the highway which just west of the

bridge splits and becomes the roads to Walpole and Norwood, was 22 feet across (more recently, to

better accommodate trucks and automobiles, it has been widened for safety). Six smaller D-shaped

openings in arches 16 through 21, 8 feet wide at water level, allowed the stream to flow through.[28]

Measurements that I took at the viaduct in 1966 indicate that the finished stone blocks used on the

exterior differ considerably in length, ranging from 10 inches to 74 inches, averaging 46 inches in

the walls and 33 inches in the buttresses. Mostly they are divided into stretchers and headers of 44

and 21 inches. The vertical thickness or height of the blocks ranges from 12 to 23 inches, with an

average of 21 inches.

Total cost of the viaduct was reported to be $100,000 or $163 per linear foot, a huge sum for the

time. That, and the deep bog in West Mansfield that required so much fill, raised the cost of the

Boston and Providence Rail Road well over the original stock capital.[29]

In addition to the viaduct, the Boston and Providence main line also included a number of wooden

bridges ranging in length from 30 to 125 feet, having a total length of 1200 feet,[30] probably the

longest of which was the moveable span over Seekonk River.

The final bill for the finished railroad varies according to the source consulted. One source says

the 42-mile main line came to $1,782,000[31] or $42,429 per mile; another gives $1,600,000 at

176

$38,095 per mile; a third comes up with an extravagant $2,109,455 or $50,225 per mile. The short

Rhode Island extension including the Seekonk River bridge and the Providence terminal facilities

cost the Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company $95,000, nearly what

Canton viaduct cost the Boston and Providence Corporation. Including the Rhode Island extension,

the Dedham Branch, and all equipment, structures, appurtenances and installations, the entire 44

miles of the Boston and Providence Rail Road is said to have come to $1,947,039 or $44,250 per

mile.[32]

177

NOTES

1. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 5 dates this trip 6 June, but it is clear from the Providence Journal article of that date that

the run took place four days earlier. Harlow (1946: 110) incorrectly dates this train trip as 1 June.

2. Many who have written about this Canton detour seem unable to agree on the means of transport used to carry

passengers around the unfinished viaduct. Some (e.g. Greene 1953: 2) report that “buses” (omnibuses)were employed; one writer says “teams,” that is, of horses; another that passengers were “ferried” across Neponset River at Canton! One report claims the viaduct was bypassed on a temporary plank trackway, in other words (if it existed) what commonly was

known, particularly in the South, as a “plank road.” Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 152) tells of passengers being conveyed in

“ordinary wagons” around a large washed-out bridge over the Mohawk River on the Rensselaer & Saratoga R. R. in New

York state.

3. A number of persons have assumed that by "grand structure" the reporter referred to the Canton viaduct, and that

the cars passed over it. But the next two sentences make it clear that the “party of gentlemen” passed around, not over

the Stone Bridge, and that “grand structure” refers to the entire roadbed and track of the Boston & Providence R. R.

Horses being slower than locomotives, which besides threw off dense clouds of woodsmoke and sometimes leaked

steam, there was more time and opportunity for the travelers to rubberneck. The Boston Advertiser copied this story,

changing only a few words, also on 6 June.

4. Harlow 1946: 111.

5. Lyell, who, unlike Dickens, liked to emphasize the positive aspects of American life, wrote on arriving in Boston

on 2 August 1841, “The Tremont Hotel merits its reputation as one of the best in the world.” The air in Boston was, he said, “clear and entirely free from smoke” and the people “very English” (Lyell 1845, v. 1: 4). He would hardly know Boston now!

6. “We . . . left there at 2 A. M.,” reported J. Watson Webb of the New York Courier and Enquirer, but he must have

been dazed out of his mind by the whole event or he forgot to wind his watch, for his timing is more than four hours off

from other accounts, and trains did not then normally run before daylight. He wrote that the elapsed time from

Providence to “off Dry Dock” in Manhattan was 11 hours 59 minutes, and that the entire distance from Boston was covered in less than 16 hours, a figure that pretty much agrees with that given by the New York Journal of Commerce

man. He brought with him to New York “the Boston daily papers of yesterday morning” (Harlow 1946: 111). 7. Reference to the “fifteen mile stone” once again suggests that McNeill's original kilometer-posts, if they existed,

already had been pulled up and replaced. However, the “fifteen” miles must be questioned, as the distance from Boston to Canton was about 14 miles.

8. The Lexington, the first of Vanderbilt's steamboats built to ply Long Island Sound, was popularly said to be the

“Fastest Boat in the World.” Her side paddle-wheels, turned by the latest model walking beam engine, measured 23 feet

in diameter; the boat was 207 feet long and displaced 488 tons. In the beginning the Providence-New York fare was four

dollars plus extra for meals. The proud Lexington enjoyed a life of less than five years. In January 1840 she took fire and

burned off Huntington, Long Island, with the loss of all but four of her passengers and crew.

9. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 325; Jacobs 1926; C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 79; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29 and 1986:

11; and Barrett 1996: 89 all refer to the first through steam trip to Providence, except for the gap at Canton, as occurring

on 11 June. Barrett (op. cit.) says “to East Providence,” perhaps misunderstanding where the state line was at that time,

or more likely meaning "the east part of the city of Providence"; but the railroad bridge from Seekonk to India Point in

178

the city of Providence was opened at least nine days before that date. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 5 states incorrectly that on

11 June, Boston & Providence conducted the “first trial of steam-locomotive-hauled passenger train.” Steam first had been used on passenger trains between Boston and Readville a year previously.

10. The U. S. Supreme Court not long ago reaffirmed this legal priority, which continues now and then to be

challenged. An 1836 Boston & Providence book of rules demonstrates official recognition of danger when it orders that

trains “will approach [crossings] slowly” (in R. Fisher 1974: 2-3); while a Boston & Maine R. R. rule of 1847 provides

the thinking engineman with a reason when it requires that wagon roads be crossed “carefully, so as to avoid frightening horses” (Harlow 1946: 361). 11. This notice was repeated in the Journal of 30 July 1835. The 16 June notice also carries a “printers' train” in the style of a Bury or Stephenson “Patent” type steam locomotive but minus the tender and with English-style cars, which

suggests that the newspaper's type supplier had seen the image in a catalog and reproduced it, or a local punch-cutter

actually had seen the engine Boston, placed in service in 1835 (A. M. Levitt, pers. comms. 1999, 2004; Levitt 2005: 74).

12. D. Forbes pers. comm. 2002.

13. Dole 1985: 43; Harlow 1946: 308.

14. Harlow 1946: 88, q. v. after p. 274 for a picture of this first train; Barrett 1996: 25. Robinson later was canned

after being caught sabotaging the engines so that he might play the hero by repairing them.

15. Barrett (1996: 121) gives an opening date of 4 July 1835 for Boston-Worcester service. Worcester at the time had

a population of fewer than 5000.

16. A nice view of this crossing may be found in at least three publications: Beebe and Clegg 1952: 34; C. Fisher

1943-98: 4; and Harlow 1946 after p. 274. Fisher says the scene dates from “about 1839;” it predates the installation of double track between Boston and Roxbury in 1845. This sketch shows how the straight, single-track lines of the Boston

& Providence and Boston & Worcester crossed each other by means of what railroad men call a “diamond” or “crossing frogs” on the flats not far from their respective terminals, overlooked by the State House dome and the steeple of Park Street Church. (The steeple is cut off in some of the published views.) Two trains are in view in the picture. The nearest,

an inbound train from Providence, consists of a typical cabless engine of the period trailed by four box-like four-wheeled

passenger coaches, the conductor and/or brakemen perched high atop the cars in an exposed position guaranteed to catch

a face full of cinders, sparks and smoke. Beyond is the train headed for Worcester. From this crossing the B&P train had

only another 1200 feet to reach the beginning of the right-hand curve approaching Pleasant Street station, and 350 or 400

feet beyond that to the portal of the depot passenger shed.

A map (RR Jubilee 1851 in Nelligan 1972) clearly shows how the B&P main track leaving Boston terminal in a

westward direction quickly went from the solid ground of the then peninsula onto a fill across the mud flats south of the

long 1821 Mill Dam of the Boston Water Power Co., then curved to the left (southwest) and crossed the B&W. An

apparent intended “wye” or curved connecting track (“ramp,” in modern highway terminology) joining the two railroads is marked by a broken line in the southeast angle of the crossing.

17. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 381.

18. Railroads America 1927; Harlow 1946: 379. “Toilet” in the 1800s referred to the process of dressing or grooming

one‟s self. The Silver Grays presumably were a military organization, whether British or American I do not know. This tale seems to indicate a classless traveling environment like that of the stagecoach. Sir Charles Lyell, visiting the U. S. a

few years later, found it amusingly American when, at an inn at Corning, N. Y., he inquired as to the whereabouts of his

stage driver, the proprietor called into the bar room, “Where is the gentleman that brought this man here?” (Lyell 1845: v.

179

1, p. 60.) Mr. Breck appears to have been a soul brother of John Ruskin, who preferred old slow ways.

19. Canton Hist. Soc., undated.

20. Canton Hist. Soc., undated.

21. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 5.

22. Copeland (1930a) says through service began in Aug. 1835, probably an error.

23. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

24. K. Cunningham pers. comm. c2000.

25. Ownjazayeri and Peters (1998) claim Canton to be the second oldest multiple-arch viaduct in the U. S.,

presumably after the Thomas viaduct, which opened slightly earlier. The previously-mentioned 1829 Carrollton viaduct

four miles from Baltimore was built with two arches; in addition to the 100-foot main span, a 20-foot secondary arch,

now almost obscured, once crossed a wagon road. Bridge authority Cook states (1987: 18; q. v. for photo showing the

two arches) that Carrollton “is probably the oldest rail structure in the United States still in use today.”

Canton viaduct became listed on the National Register of Historic Places 20 Sept. 1994.

26. “The 21 semi-circular arches on each side, they do not connect to the deck arches on the other side of the viaduct.

The deck arches support the deck past the face of the parallel walls, providing half the support for the deck.” (Excavating Engineer, May 1936).

27. An old handwritten notebook in Edaville R. R. (Carver, Mass.) museum in Jan. 1976, author and date unknown,

contains the following: “The Canton Viaduct is built hollow and cedar ladder now inside to inspect, same marked 'Made

in 1834.' By taking out two stones a man can get inside. Every stone is marked and every stone is laid on sheet lead for a

point.” 28. McNeill‟s 1834 report calls for seven arches for the stream, but unless I am mistaken I count six in the existing

bridge.

29. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

30. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

31. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 325.

32. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323, 325. OFA 1848: 38 under the heading “Railroads in New England, &c.” gives the “Cost” of Boston & Providence as $2,109,455. This may include branches and other works completed after 1835. By way of comparison, construction cost of Boston & Lowell, 25-3/4 miles, was a seemingly high $1,800,000 or $69,903

(Gerstner op. cit.: 303, 785, rounds to $70,000) per mile, but this includes the cost of tearing up the original

unsatisfactory 35-pound fishbelly rail and replacing it with 58-pound “H” or inverted “T” rail plus 16-1/2 miles of

second track laid after the first track was completed, to partly double-track the line. Cost of Boston & Worcester, 44

miles, $1,848,085 or $42,002 (Gerstner op. cit.: 786 gives $39,113) per mile; New-York, Providence & Boston

(“Stonington”), 47-1/2 miles, $2,500,000 or $52,632 per mile; high perhaps partly because of some “bottomless” swamps encountered on route; Taunton Branch, which had to overcome no natural obstacles, 11 miles, $260,000 or

$23,636 per mile.

Cost of constructing the railways proper, minus locomotives, rolling stock, buildings and miscellaneous expenses:

Boston & Providence to Seekonk only, plus Dedham Branch, 43 miles, $1,417,607 or $$32,968 per mile; Boston &

Lowell, 25-3/4 miles, single track including rail replacement $1,082,434 or $42,036 per mile; Taunton Branch, 11 miles,

$198,482 or $18,044 per mile (Gerstner op. cit.: 303, 325, 331, 785-6).

180

1 – The Boston and Providence in operation

In view of the fact that traffic between Boston and Providence even in pre-railroad days had been

substantial, there was good reason to suppose the railroad would rake in a considerable profit, and

indeed when the road was put into operation its financial success soared above all expectations,[1]

making it the strongest of the three Massachusetts roads.[2] Unlike the case with today's railroads,

by far the greater proportion of the company's revenues were derived from passengers.

It was well after this time that Oliver Wendell Holmes referred to Boston as “the hub of the universe.” But by summer of 1835, in terms of railroading, a hub it was. Three solidly-built, well-

managed, profit-making railroads shattered the ancient barriers of time and space as they radiated

away from the city: northwestward to Lowell, westward to Worcester, southwestward to Providence

with excellent steamboat connections beyond that place to New York. The result was that New

England, after a late start, had taken the lead away from the South and the Middle Atlantic states,

and Boston, which was incorporated as a city in 1822, besides being the cultural, educational and

literary heart of America, now was the undeniable center-point of American railroading.[3]

Quick and reliable overnight rail-water service to New York commenced at once, revealing to all

observers, if any had doubted, that the main rationale for the Boston and Providence Rail Road was

the New York trade. It was now possible for Manhattan-bound travelers to eat a leisurely noon

dinner in Boston, to be in Providence after a two-hour train trip in time to board Vanderbilt's

Lexington at four in the afternoon, and arrive in New York before businesses opened the following

morning. The Boston and Providence signed a contract with New York and Boston Transportation

Company, which ran the boats, containing the agreement that the “Steamboat Trains” that connected

with the New York boats “shall at all times proceed to and from the steamboats at a rate more rapid, so as to effect the passage in less time than ordinary passenger trains of equal burden, and without

stopping more than three times on the route.”[4] From the beginning, one of these stops was at

Mansfield, where the engine took on wood and water, and passengers transferred to and from

Taunton. The best locomotives and cars and the most competent and reliable engine and train crews

were drawn for these runs. Interlocking directorates of the railroad and steamboat companies

solidified the agreements between them.[5]

Many politicians and others, particularly those in Providence, were outraged that the boat travelers

got better treatment than those riding the shorter distance between the two state capitals and

181

intermediate points. Even the Massachusetts General Court charged later that the railroad and the

steamboat companies owned blocks of one another's stock.[6] But this, after all, was the main reason

the railroad had been conceived and built.

Bostonians were equally put out because, contrary to their expectations, the railroad-steamboat

arrangement, as forward-looking as it was to our modern eyes, had not captured for their city the

trade of industrial southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.[7]

The other two roads operating out of Boston were just beginning to find that then, as now, they

could earn more profits carrying freight than passengers. But on the Providence road, which had

sewed up the monopoly on the New York traffic, the passenger business paid handsomely. One

reason was that for several years the company charged five cents a mile,[8] twice the fare charged

over the same route a century later.

Still, the Boston and Providence transacted plenty of freight and local passenger business along its

42-mile line. Most of the passenger depots erected by the railroad in 1834 and '35 lasted well

through the 19th century and some survived into the 20th.

The terminal depot in Boston had been opened officially on the date of the first revenue run to

Readville, 4 June 1834,[9] at Pleasant Street and Broadway opposite Eliot Street, close to Park

Square near the 1930 Statler Building,[10] in what then was known as "West Boston." Referred to

modern city maps, it occupied the triangular space bounded by Providence and Berkeley streets and

Columbus Avenue, 100 yards south of the southwest corner of the present Public Garden (until 1859

the site of a rope-walk); Arlington Street now runs through the site, which has been occupied since

1927 by the Motor Mart Garage, until recently used also as the Greyhound Bus Terminal,[11] and by

the Statler-Hilton Hotel.

The two-story depot sported Grecian pilasters on three sides and a clock set in a stubby tower

above its facade, and contained offices for the company officials, a ticket office and segregated

waiting rooms – not for blacks and whites but for men and women. To allow passengers to board

trains without exposure to the hot sun or inclement weather, the cars waited under a roofed sky-

lighted gallery which probably filled with smoke whenever a train pulled in. The depot even had a

bell, like the small-town stations, to let waiting passengers know it was time to board their train. On

the east side of Berkeley Street, next to and just southwest of the passenger depot, stood a 150-by-

30-foot freight station. The passenger depot served as Boston and Providence's north-end terminal

until 3 January 1875, when it was replaced by the elegant new Park Square station.[12]

182

Down at the other end of the main line, the 1835 India Point terminal in Providence, in keeping

with its role as a way station on the Manhattan run, was water-oriented, because until 1837, when the

Stonington road was completed, the Rhode Island capital had no other rail connections. At the mouth

of the Seekonk River in the northeast corner of Providence Harbor, the one-story frame depot with

its waiting room and office huddled under a vast pitched roof held up by the obligatory Grecian

pillars and sloping out to cover the track so that, as at Boston, passengers could board and detrain

under shelter. An adjacent freight shed was arranged so stevedores could transload cargoes to and

from coastal sloops and schooners, which tied up alongside a dock bordered by a dam of pilings.

Major William Gibbs McNeill, in May 1836, had submitted to the railroad company a report

recommending that under an agreement of June 1835 a large tract of land for a terminal at India

Point be appropriated for the use of Rhode Island‟s Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company. Boston and Providence‟s new president, William W. Woolsey, in a letter to George Curtis, Esq. (an attorney?), dated 13 November 1836, seconded this recommendation

because, “A lesser quantity might materially cramp its future operations or jeopardise its property.”[13]

Smaller frame structures were built to serve as intermediate stations in Readville, Canton, Sharon,

Foxborough, Mansfield, Attleborough and other places.[14]

The Boston terminal stood on the edge of what was then called West Bay. Almost immediately

after departing this depot, the track crossed Church Street and then, on a left-curving causeway,

passed over the muddy saltwater marsh known as Roxbury Flats, now occupied in part by the streets

and buildings of Back Bay.[15] These watery mud flats were formed in 1821 when enclosed by

dams of the Boston Water Power Company.[16] At 0.3 mile came the diamond crossing of the

Boston and Worcester. At Roxbury, 1.6 miles from Boston, near the point where southbound trains

reached dry land and also the first curve in the track after crossing the diamond, extensive car and

locomotive shops were either already in use or in process of being built on the west side of the track.

From Roxbury the rails threaded the slight depression afforded by Stony Brook to Jamaica Plains

(3.3 miles from the terminal) and then Readville (8.5 miles) at the junction of the Dedham

Branch,[17] where the main line first made the acquaintance of the lazy Neponset River and

followed it, with the wooded dome of Great Blue Hill visible off to the left. (Second only to Canton

viaduct, the scenic high point of my childhood trips to Boston was always Blue Hill, which seemed

never to move no matter how fast the train clattered along.) The track then crossed the broad Fowl

183

Meadow and pierced the craggy rock cuts toward Canton.

The temporary Canton station west of the tracks had been replaced by a “passenger house”[18]

about on the site of the present Canton Junction depot at Mile 13.8. It was a wooden structure with

an unusual square cupola atop, like a widow's walk.[19] The owners of Revere copper works, to

save on freight charges, had built at their own expense a half-mile spur from the main track at

Canton to their factory. This line, like the Dedham Branch, had iron strap rails and was worked by

horses.[20]

Sharon station was 17 miles from Boston. An exception to other towns along the line, Sharon was

not notably productive either agriculturally or industrially, though Hayward in his original horse

railroad survey did mention a “Sharon Factory.”[21] But with its relatively high elevation and

sizeable Massapoag Pond (now called “Lake Massapoag” by those who dote on turning ponds into

lakes, though it is no larger than before; when I was a boy it was still a Pond), Sharon was becoming

a health resort for those wishing to get away from the summer heat of Boston – later advertisements

touted the supposedly salubrious qualities of its “ozone”– so that its depot was given over mostly to

passenger and less-than-carload freight service.

Foxborough (later East Foxboro) station, at 21.5 miles, built in 1835, stood on the east side of the

tracks in the corner of Cocasset and East Streets. So that residents of Foxborough Center might not

feel neglected, for many years a stage ran between East Foxborough depot and the center of

town.[22] This station served its patrons well for around 35 years until about 1869 or '70, when the

community “got too 'tony' for it . . . . Upon completion of a brand new station in East Foxboro the company loaded the old one on two flatcars and brought it down to Mansfield [where] it became a

dwelling house . . . .”[23] The 1870 depot lasted well into the 20th century until it in turn was

replaced for a time with a dinky shelter, which in turn was replaced with – nothing.

Beyond the last curve at Foxborough, near the Mansfield town line, which was also the line

between Norfolk and Bristol Counties (and in colonial days, between Massachusetts Bay and

Plymouth Colonies), the landscape turned tame and monotonously flat.

“After the road was built the most important thing to Mansfield people was the placing of the railroad station. Since neither Chauncy Street nor Rumford Avenue was then built the present site

was not considered as it was not on any street. The crossing nearest the center of population and

business was either Central Street or West Street. As the land through there belonged to the sons of

the Rev. Roland Green the [choice of] site may have rested with them.” The railroad's management, after conferring with influential citizens of the town, decided to erect

a two story frame passenger house on the east side of the track just south of Central Street facing

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Green Street, on land owned by James Greene, the grandson of Mansfield's second minister the

Reverend Roland Green; in fact James Greene may have built the house.[24] This station was 24.3

miles from the Boston terminal and about a half mile south of the present Mansfield depot.

Appropriately, the 29-year-old Jim Greene became the first station agent and with his family

moved into comfortable quarters upstairs over the ticket office and waiting rooms. Before long he

opened in the depot a general store, of which he was proprietor.

Though the James Greene House, as it became called, served the Boston and Providence as a

station for only a year (completion of a line from Mansfield to Taunton required that a new union

depot be placed at the junction, a half mile to the north), the older building endured, unrecognized as

a historic structure and in its final years unoccupied and dilapidated, until 1955 – in 1953, I

photographed it with a diesel-powered commuter train passing in front. It stood halfway between the

present Central and West Streets, which before construction of the underpasses were grade crossings,

and across the tracks from George Street, and was built in the shape of an ordinary house with a

simple “federal” facade, gable roof and a single off-center chimney. In front, facing the track, was a

center door with sidelights, two windows on either side of the door, and upstairs five windows

across. The south end had two windows upstairs and two down plus a full-size attic window.

Apparently there was a high-level platform and shelter roof on the side facing the tracks and on the

south end; these had fallen by the time I photographed the building. The depot measured about 38 by

18 feet with the long side parallel to the tracks and about 28 feet 6 inches high to the ridge of the

roof. Behind it stood a barn[25] which was gone by 1953.

After the second Mansfield passenger house was built a half mile to the north in 1836 (it was 23.8

miles from Boston), the former station for many years served as a home for the Greene family –

James Greene's son James H. lived there at least until 1871[26] with trains rattling non-stop past his

door, smudging with wood-smoke and then coal-smoke the wash Mrs. Greene hung out to dry. Civil

War veteran Reuben Purdy, who had survived confinement in the infamous Confederate prison camp

at Andersonville, Georgia, and for whom nearby Purdy‟s Corner was named, was a later resident. There is some disagreement as to when trains began stopping at what afterward was called West

Mansfield. One source claims that when the road was built, no station stop existed in the 6.5 miles

between Mansfield and Attleborough. Another says that from the date of the first through run all

trains in both directions halted there as a service in return for the granting of a right-of-way.[27] The

truth may fall somewhere between. It is a fact that on 3 July 1835, 25 days before official Boston-

Providence service began, local landowner and nearby resident John T. Tobit or Tobitt (1809-1885)

transferred by warranty deed a 66-foot right-of-way through his West Mansfield property to the

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Boston and Providence[28] and it was for him that the first West Mansfield station was named.

For years after this depot was built (not near the present Old Country Store, to the vicinity of

which it was moved in 1868, but on the other side of the track and a little to the north) and the trains

began halting there the name “West Mansfield” was unheard of. The station was called Tobit's (consistently misspelled “Tobey's” in timetables as late as 1851), named for John Tobit, and that name may be seen on schedules and tickets preserved from those days. A small country village grew

up around the station, the name of which was officially changed about 1860 to West Mansfield.[29]

The first agent in this little depot was Captain William A. Beard, who held the post until 1855.

The 1835 Attleborough passenger house at Mile 30.8 was demolished by a derailed engine only a

few years after it was built and another was erected on the same spot on what is now Railroad

Avenue halfway between Mill and Park streets.[30] A passenger station also was built at Dodgeville,

less than two miles south of Attleborough, and probably still another at Perrins, 35.5 miles from

Boston.

The main line had but a single track, which might have caused problems and even an element of

danger on a busier railroad, but in the early days trains were infrequent and a “turn out” or passing siding was located every few miles, so things worked well enough. Elijah Dean's never-flagging

attention was attracted to these, though he didn't quite understand their significance:

A turn out place next comes in view,

Which seems unnecessary.

To multiply two rails by two

Will make nothing to carry.

A siding and industrial spur to the copper works at Canton also caught his eye:

Then next a turn out with three tracks,

(A wonderment creating)

One track leads down to Leonard's works

Where he rolls copper sheathing.[31]

* * *

When the line was fully opened the only route other than the privately-owned Canton spur where

horses were still used was the Dedham Branch. But when in 1835 the Boston and Providence

186

purchased seven new locomotives, their chronic power shortage ended. For a time, Boston-Dedham

service fluctuated between “special” (commuter) steam trains and horse-drawn cars that were

handled, as before, in steam trains on the main line. But shortly the last horses were turned out to

well-deserved green pastures and steam began running through on a regular basis between Dedham

and Boston.

At first and for several years thereafter, three or four daily round trips were scheduled between

Boston and Providence, the last train of the day departing Boston before 4:00 p. m.– the railroads

were leery about running trains after dark. One of these runs, and the fastest, in each direction was

the “Steamboat Train.” Riders, however, were concentrated on the Boston end of the line. During this period passengers paid an expensive five cents per mile for their tickets. Thus a one-way trip

from Mansfield to Boston cost $1.20, roughly equal to or more than the average day's wage and

nearly three times what the same trip cost a hundred years later; many persons who would have

ridden the trains were deterred by the price of tickets. The one-way 42-mile trip over the whole road

is said to have been cut to an hour and a half, the engineers evidently having become inured through

experience to the thrills and terrors of highballing across public roads at grade. These Boston and

Providence cars ran even on Sundays, scandalizing the ministers and parishioners of the many

churches along the way, particularly (one would guess) those in East Attleborough, whose Sabbath

services were of necessity conducted close to the noisy railroad.[32]

Presumably during a dry summer not long after the line opened, oyster shells were spread on the

right-of-way through Sharon to hold down the dust.[33]

Among the up-to-date amenities offered by Boston and Providence to the public was checking of

personal baggage. Until now, travelers had been required to look after the tagging, carrying and

handling of their own luggage the best they could. Supplanting the earlier hand-written labels that

passengers had been required to paste to their baggage, the new checks were made of tin by a Boston

man named James Hendley, who cut them out by hand. These small, rather crude tags were replaced

after a while through the efforts of J. W. Strange, whose circular brass checks were stamped out by

the same copper rolling mill in Norton, Massachusetts, that produced the copper “planchets” that the U. S. mint made into the old large-size cents. One of the checks that has been preserved is a circular

disk with a hole punched in it, marked:

BOSTON

1

B. & P. R. R.[34]

187

Despite the almost military orderliness and discipline with which railroad operations were

conducted from the start, the trainmen were not uniformed, as they are now, but the company

expected them to dress at least on a par with their passengers. Enginemen of course, in their oily and

cindery working environment, were exempt from this dress code.

By the time of the bitter and snowy winter of 1835-36 a visitor from England, the proud birthplace

of railways, wrote that “very speedy communication” was being offered between Boston, Providence and New York, the trip “being performed in 20 hours, by rail-road and steamboat.” Had he but known, this was one of their slower days; six months earlier the same trip had been accomplished in

four hours less. Still, compared to previous travel times, it was little short of miraculous.

The beginning of scheduled steam trains sounded the death knell of the uncomfortable and even

dangerous stagecoaches that ran on the turnpikes, but they did not die easily. The stage operators

established additional relay stations and bought extra horses in vain hopes of duplicating train

speeds, but the best of horses took four hours 50 minutes on the Boston-Providence run compared to

far less than half that for the train. The stages then cut their rates, but to no avail; intercity passengers

deserted them for the railroad in droves, as in the 20th century they deserted the trains for the

highways and the air. Lacking the capital to continue the losing struggle, the stagecoaches gradually

were downgraded to providing connecting service between railroad depots and nearby towns that

had no trains, as between East Foxborough and Foxborough Center. Among the stage lines done in

by the completion of the Boston and Providence was the Citizens' Coach Company operating over

the parallel turnpike between the two state capitals.[35] An eminent historian lists those ancillary

facilities and services that suffered from the collapse of the intercity staging and teaming business:

stables and stablemen, horse owners and breeders, makers of wagons and harnesses, farmers who

produced horse feed, and keepers of taverns along the stage routes.[36]

* * *

By August 1835, however, as if echoing the gripes of the ill-served Mr. Breck, passengers were

singing a more mournful tune and the honeymoon of June the previous year, in which praise was

lavished on the accommodations provided by the Boston and Providence along with relief at not

having to be “jolted” over the turnpike, seems to have come to a doleful finish. The Boston Weekly

Advocate of 18 August, in words that were to come back to life 120 years later in the form of

188

complaints about the Boston and Providence's luckless successor, the New Haven Railroad, raves

and threatens:

“Et tu Brute!” The [Boston] Transcript is out upon the Providence Rail Road, and declares that it never heard half so much said against any corporation as this, the cars are leaky, the conductor surly, the

price of passage double the rate promised when the charter was petitioned for, they refuse to carry the

steam boat mail under $100 per month, and they drop their passengers down at their depot on Charles

street, not under the sheds, but where a pouring shower can have its due effect.

The cause of all this is very evident. The Directors feel secure in their monopoly. No other rail road

can be built and they know the public must put up with the accommodation they choose to give. The

corporation would do well to remember, however, that the Camden and Amboy Rail Road Co. had a

forty years monopoly granted them, that they grew careless, in fancied security against competition,

but a few spirited men in Philadelphia bought up the stock in the Brunswick Turnpike and are laying a

rail road thereon, by which the distance from New York to Philadelphia will be shortened to 87 miles,

instead of 110, and the time to four hours, instead of nine or fourteen, as the Camden Co. sometimes

take. The Turnpike between this city and Providence may be bought and used in a similar way, unless

some change for the better takes place in the direction of the Providence Rail Road Co.[37]

As if these problems were not enough, on 22 August a careless mishap apparently caused by lack

of a locomotive headlight was reported in the Advocate of the 25th:

An accident occurred on the Providence rail-road on Saturday evening, but fortunately no lives were

lost, although the cars were detained two or three hours. The train which left Providence at sunset,

came in contact with the cars on their way from the city [Boston] – one of the locomotives had a light,

and the other had not. Some damage was done to the cars, which did not reach the city till nearly 12

o'clock.[38]

The passenger gripes were followed by more of the same, in an anonymous letter addressed to the

editor of the Advocate of 8 October:

I have heard much complaining of the exorbitant price charged passengers in the Cars between this

city and Providence, and beyond all question the fare is altogether too high and should be immediately

reduced. But sir, I wish to enquire through the medium of your journal, where the Directors could

possibly have obtained their crazy, old rickety cars, into which they crowd passengers after taxing

189

them two dollars for a seat. I noticed a sale of a parcel of old stages advertised as having been formerly

running on this same route between Providence and Boston, but having been in the frequent habit of

travelling this road, I never saw one half as bad as some of the cars on this road. A few days since,

being myself among others, a passenger in one of the cars, it happened to rain, when we found the

water pouring down upon us through the top of what they called a car, the seats covered with water

and before we could find umbrellas, the passengers were pretty thoroughly drenched. Are travellers to

be thus treated! If so, let a good line of stages be immediately put upon the road charging a fair price,

and the cars will be deserted by passengers.[39]

Adding to these woes is a "Melancholy Accident" described in the same Boston newspaper of 15

October:

As Mr Joseph L. Gleason who has been employed for several years as a breakman [sic] on the

Providence Railroad, was standing on the steps of a passenger car as the train was coming from

Providence to this city, and was passing through Canton, from some unknown cause he fell from the

step, and his fall being observed by a lady passenger, the alarm was immediately given, and the cars

after proceeding about a mile stopped, and backed. When he was taken up he was bleeding freely from

the head, but life was extinct.[40]

This was followed, as the ever-alert Advocate on Friday, 20 November, continued to educate its

readers in the hazards of railroading, by this sad item:

We learn that in housing the engine at the depot of the Boston and Providence Rail Road in this city,

on Saturday last, a lad by the name of Tucker, about twelve years of age, was shockingly crushed and

mangled between the engine and the building, and that he died in a few minutes after.[41]

Whether this unfortunate young chap was an employe of the railroad (boys customarily were hired

as messengers to call train and engine crews from their homes to duty), the son of an enginehouse

employe or a trespasser is not stated.

* * *

It is odd that not until trains were running over the full length of the railroad did Boston and

Providence actually purchase their right-of-way, which prior to that time they had only leased.

Several mostly warrantee deeds written in late 1835 and early 1836 to land in West Mansfield and

filed in Taunton Registry will serve as examples of this practice:

190

Date signed Date recorded Book: page Grantor Notes

15 Oct. 1835 20 Oct. 1835 148: 86 Solomon Pratt 2 parcels

28 Nov. 1835 1 Dec. 1835 148: 241 Artemas King

4 Dec. 1835 5 Dec. 1835 148: 246 Benjamin Williams

7 Jan. 1836 ------------ ---------- Ebenezer Williams Award

7 Jan. 1836 ------------ ---------- Experience Williams Award

5 Feb. 1836 4 Mar. 1836 149: 197 Jacob Williams et al

------- 1836 4 Mar. 1836 149: 197 Experience Williams Release.

4 May 1836 5 May 1836 150: 35 Ebenezer Williams[42]

On 21 October 1835 George W. Hayward, guardian of Esther Hayward et al., transferred to

Boston and Providence the 66-foot-wide railroad right-of-way between Hodges Brook and the

present School Street. Rufus Skinner on 13 November deeded to the railroad corporation a triangle

of land west of the track in West Mansfield, identified as Parcel 200 on modern Mansfield assessors'

Plate 6. On 28 November Apollos Skinner transferred to Boston and Providence a parcel of land at

West Mansfield between the track and the present Otis Street and north of Elm Street crossing. And

Hosea Grover on 11 December sold the railroad the 66-foot-wide right-of-way south of Hodges

Brook.[43]

As the momentous year of 1835 neared its end, Thomas B. Wales (who went on to become

president of Western Railroad Corporation) was succeeded as Boston and Providence chairman of

the board (and, by default, president) by William W. Woolsey.

191

NOTES

1. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 323.

2. Harlow 1946: 219.

3. Even New York City, content with the prosperity brought by the combined Hudson River and Erie Canal, had no

railroads until long after the cities of Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore (Harlow 946: 63).

4. A. M. Levitt, after a study of the Boston & Providence president‟s letter book, comments (pers. comm. 2005), “The relationship between the Rail Road and the steamboat company remains to be clarified, but it appears that the scheduling of the Steamboat Train (from Boston to Providence), and the stations at which it calls, seems to be within the

realm of the steamboat company, although subject to the approval of of the Rail Road when it comes to (1) changes, and

(2) when the changes can come into effect.” 5. Dorchester Atheneum 2005.

6. Harlow 1946: 112.

7. Dorchester Atheneum 2005.

8. Harlow 1946: 113.

9. Barrett 1996: 89.

10. Copeland 1930a. Pleasant St. is now part of Broadway.

11. Barrett 1996: 205.

12. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324; Harlow 1946: 395. If engines were allowed under the roof, the passenger gallery

must at times have gotten as badly choked with wood smoke as the more recent Back Bay tunnel, despite its state-of-the-

art exhaust fans, is with diesel fumes. See Barrett 2001 (end papers, from Ballou's Pictorial of 8 Mar. 1856, and pp. 89,

91 and 92) for pictures of the Boston terminal station, the latter two showing the depot around 1860 and 1870, after a

taller clock tower was added.

13. B&P pres. letter book p. 2, letter 2.

14. Belcher 1938: no. 4. He omits Foxborough, but there was a station there, and probably others at Roxbury,

Jamaica Plains (which over the years has gone from plural to singular and is now called Jamaica Plain) and Dodgeville.

15. Copeland 1930a.

16. Barrett 1996: 121.

17. In 1835 the fare between Boston and Dedham via Readville was 37-1/2 cents for the approximately 10-1/2-mile

trip, or about 3-1/2 cents per mile (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2006), seemingly a low rate.

18. This was the term used until at least mid-century for a passenger station or "depot."

19. See photograph in Galvin 1987: 9.

20. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 330.

21. Harlow 1946: 55n.

22. Lane 1966: 59.

23. Copeland 1931b.

24. Copeland 1930a. The Mansfield Green(e)s, like the Dean(e)s, had difficulty making up their minds about the

spelling of their names.

25. Details and approximate measurements of station scaled from photographs I took in 1953. At that time the front

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of the building stood 60 or 65 feet from the nearest track, which seems an excessive distance for a passenger station, and

my guess is that after it ceased being used as a depot and became a private dwelling the owner moved it eastward to get it

away from passing trains with their clatter and smoke.

26. Map of Mansfield 1871.

27. Attleboro Sun 11 Feb. 1943, under the heading “West Mansfield R. R. depot being dismantled.” The date of the “first train” is given erroneously as July 1896. Passenger service to West Mansfield ceased about 1938. In Dec. 1939 the

State Public Utilities Commission issued an order requiring the New Haven R. R. to reopen the abandoned station but the

order was never executed. Work on razing the depot began 10 Feb. 1943 (op. cit.).

28. Recorded 9 Sept. 1835 in Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, Mass., v. 147, p. 227. Also on 3 July

Apollos Skinner deeded land to the railroad near Tobit's; this transfer was not recorded at Taunton until 25 Jan. 1853, v.

206, p. 449. Both transfers are shown on NYNH&H map 62530, on file in Taunton Registry (courtesy of L. F. Flynn

1998).

29. Copeland 1931e; she reported that a woman in 1931 had an old ticket printed “Tobey's.” The original depot stood “about opposite the present [1931] Christian Church parsonage.” The village became called Tobit's Corner after Otis St.

was built parallel to the railroad at some later date. But when the railroad first came, there was no corner--what now is

called Elm St. was without an intersection between Williams St. at the later Purdy's Corner and the Norton town line.

30. Belcher 1938: no. 1. The “ugh” was dropped from the name Attleborough in 1887 when the former town was incorporated as the city of Attleboro. Foxborough never officially let go of the “ugh,” though in common usage it is spelled “Foxboro.”

31. Copeland 1931d.

32. The question of when Sunday became a dies non for train operation is both neglected and intriguing. In Victorian

England and particularly Scotland many if not most trains did not run on Sunday – perhaps not so much because of

concerns for keeping the Sabbath holy as for want of traffic on that day. Railway guides and employes' timetables

published in the U. S. prior to the 1890s fail to suggest in any way that all trains did not run daily including Sunday;

although a Vermont law of 1850 required conductors to read the Sunday scriptures to their passengers (a captive

audience if ever there were one!) from Bibles kept in cast iron racks aboard the cars (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2001).

Between 1834 and 1860, of the 34 times Isaac Stearns of Mansfield writes in his diary of riding the trains and nine

other days when he records that trains were operating, only once does he tell of a Sunday trip, and that was 11 Sept.

1842, when he took what may have been a special or extra train from Mansfield to a religious camp meeting in Myrick's,

Mass., 17 miles down the Taunton Branch (Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 576). Whether his apparent avoidance of Sunday travel

can be laid up to his religious preferences or to the absence of scheduled Sabbath trains on the T. B. and B&P, or neither

of the above, is not clear. But even the most rigidly religious railroad directors in puritanical Massachusetts, where

making undue noise or working or even walking on Sunday was legally frowned upon, could not ignore the profits to be

reaped in transporting the faithful to a Sunday camp meeting at which (Stearns was told) 10,000 persons were in

attendance.

33. J. F. Copeland pers. comm. 1954.

34. Jacobs 1930. See Harlow 1946: 387, q. v. after p. 82 for photo of this and the baggage checks of other New

England railroads.

35. Belcher 1938: no. 3; Kirby 1999. But the highways were to have their revenge. In mid-20th century throughout

the U. S. wherever there was a passenger-carrying main line railroad the taxpayers built a multi-barreled freeway beside

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it; and as the Boston & Providence R. R. killed the stagecoach lines, so Interstate Route 95 played a major role in killing

the passenger and freight business of the New Haven R. R.

36. Harlow 1946: 65-6.

37. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002. But the turnpike had hills that no steam engine could climb.

The reference to “steam boat mail” demands the question, did the trains also carry the local mails? A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2006) is of the opinion that they did not, and further comments that at $100 per month – little more than $3.85

per day – it seems that the volume of mail “was not terribly great.”. 38. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002. Where this accident happened is not stated. It would appear that the lightless train

was not seen by the opposing engineer in time for him to stop. In earlier days trains did not run at night.

39. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002. I am not clear whether the writer referred to stages formerly in use on the railroad

(e.g., on the Dedham Branch or between Canton and Providence before the viaduct was completed) or to those used on

the parallel turnpike.

40. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002. Because of deterioration of the newspaper, the brakeman's last name is not clearly

legible; it appears to be Gleason. The train must have been traveling at almost a 21st century rate of speed if it took a

mile to be brought to a stop; or perhaps the horrified lady passenger was slow in notifying the trainman.

41. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002.

42. From B&P right of way and track map, 1915. “Experience” was a woman, as in the case of my great-grandmother Experience (Codding) Reed. Did the practice of selling land to the railroad after it began running trains

indicate an original lack of confidence on the part of the grantors?

43. Recorded in Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, Mass., 23 Oct. 1835, v. 146, p. 94; 23 Jan. 1853,

v. 146, p. 168; 1 Dec. 1835, v. 148, p. 242; 14 Dec. 1835, v. 147, p. 107, respectively. These lands and transfers are

illustrated on an old railroad plan, NYNH&H map 62530, on file at Taunton Registry (courtesy of L. F. Flynn 1998).

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12 – The Taunton Branch

The opening of the Boston and Providence Rail Road was not the only exciting news to shake up the

residents of Mansfield and of the Bristol County seat (or, to be correct, "shire town") of Taunton in

1835. Rumor had it that an altogether new railroad might be built across the relatively featureless

plain between those two towns, connecting with Boston and Providence at Mansfield. This

possibility was a great subject of speculative and hopeful talk wherever men gathered in post offices,

stores or factories.

We have mentioned in an earlier chapter two abortive starts that were made in this direction. In

spring of 1830 a bill to establish the Boston, Providence and Taunton Rail Road Corporation

apparently failed to clear the Massachusetts Senate, and a company called the Boston and Taunton

Rail Road Corporation was established by an act of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in

June 1831. These companies never materialized when the backers thereof decided to pull in their

horns and go simply for a more modest line from Boston to Providence, temporarily throwing

Taunton to the wolves.[1]

But the latest version of the rumor came true when on 7 April 1835, even before Boston and

Providence was open for its full length, the Taunton Branch Rail Road Corporation was chartered

and granted the authority by the Massachusetts legislature (House of Representatives, 1835 first

session, Document number 67) to build a line from Taunton passing through Norton to a junction

with the Providence road at Mansfield, 11 miles to the north.[2]

A joint stock company was organized with a capital stock of 1500 shares. Boston textile mill

magnates James Kellogg Mills and Edmund D. Dwight, who had gone into business together in

Chicopee, Massachusetts, in 1833 as Mills and Company, were among the merchants and capitalists

who foresaw that railroads meant lower transportation costs and expanded markets, and they became

investors and officers in both Western Railroad and in the Taunton Branch.[3]

Taunton, second only to Concord as the oldest inland town in Massachusetts (settled 1638),

deserved better transportation than it had, and the idea of spiking down iron rails from Mansfield

across the flats to the shire town was a no-brainer. Not only were passengers waiting to be plucked

from the vine, or from the rough-riding stagecoaches, but Taunton's existing industrial base was a

potential gold mine of freight. By the 1830s Taunton had numerous iron-working establishments,

rolling mills turning out copper, iron and lead sheets (this was an early industrial syndicate), makers

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of bells for factories, churches and railroad stations, tools, tinware, silverware and britanniaware

("pewter"), hats, shoes, paper, bricks (eight million annually), alcoholic brew and, most important of

all, cotton and wool textiles.[4] Most of these products were shipped via the navigable Taunton

River or over the poor roads. With a railroad, they could be manhandled into freight cars and

dispatched to Mansfield, and from a seamless junction at that place forwarded to Boston (assuaging

the hurt feelings of that city‟s businessmen, who were horrified by the giant sucking sound as the trade of southeastern New England headed for New York at high speed) or Providence or to other

consignees situated elsewhere along the line -- and even beyond!

It should be made clear in the beginning that the Taunton Branch despite its misleading name[5]

was not an official "branch" of the Boston and Providence but a separate railroad in its own right.

The Boston Weekly Advocate reports on 15 August 1835:

The stock of a branch rail-road to connect Taunton with the Providence rail-road at Mansfield, has just

been taken up with avidity, in Taunton and Boston, and the first assessment paid in. This branch will

undoubtedly be continued to New Bedford, and it will bring Taunton within about an hour and a half's

ride of Boston. The distance to Mansfield is about twelve miles, and the capital of the branch

corporation is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, though it is not supposed that the road will cost

so much.[6]

Shortly after the line's incorporation, gangs of Irishmen were assembled at Mansfield under the

charge of Yankee foremen, and surveying and then construction of the roadbed began, continuing

into 1836. On 29 September the Advocate relayed the news from a Taunton paper that:

The Old Colony Memorial states that about 200 men are now at work on the Taunton Branch Railroad,

which is to connect with the Boston and Providence Railroad to [sic] Mansfield – and that the road

will be completed in the course of next summer, and will most probably be extended to New

Bedford.[7]

Directly in the path of this proposed road, however, as on the Boston and Providence, there

dwelled some strident objectors. The most influential of these was Judge Laban Wheaton, an

imposing Norton land baron who in 1834 founded Wheaton Female Seminary, now Wheaton

College, in that town. Wheaton had given up an intended career in the ministry for one in law. After

serving seven years in the Massachusetts legislature and eight years in the United States House of

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Representatives, he returned home to Norton where he held the positions of town meeting

moderator, justice of the peace and postmaster. In short, he was no man to be trifled with.

The original plan of the incorporators of the Taunton Branch was to run it through the middle of

the peaceful agricultural village of Norton, with a passenger house at or near Norton center. It is

practically certain that they intended to establish their junction with the Boston and Providence near

the existing James Greene House and general store that served as Mansfield station. From that

turnout the line most likely would have picked up the slight depression of Rumford River in the

vicinity of the present Willow Street in Mansfield and followed this natural water-level route more

than halfway to Taunton, with perhaps a bend around the western fringes of a large cedar swamp

having the nearly unpronounceable Indian name of Buttomemummonthe – since the 1870s, when it

was dammed and partly flooded to provide industrial waterpower, called Reservoir Pond, now the

much larger though shallow Norton Reservoir.

But Judge Wheaton strenuously opposed this route, believing it would decrease the value of

property (most of which he owned – as it turned out, property values near the railroads doubled and

tripled) and destroy the bucolic nature of the village. He had enough clout to force the line to be

diverted well east of the center,[8] much to the inconvenience of Wheaton College students of 100

years later who, arriving at Mansfield station by train, had to resort to undersized rattletrap highway

buses to take themselves and their mountains of luggage five miles to the school. On the new track

alignment a depot was to be built on the north side of the current East Main Street (Massachusetts

Route 123) 1.2 mile east of Norton common. In the beginning this was the only public passenger

station between Mansfield and Taunton.

Moving the line to bypass the middle of Norton turned out for the officials and civil engineers of

the road to be a blessing in disguise. It meant the right-of-way could run well clear of the east side of

the great unpronounceable cedar swamp on a dead straight line to the center of Taunton. A

disadvantage was that the planned junction at Mansfield would have to be relocated a half mile north

of Greene's station, and that would necessitate construction of a new passenger house on the Boston

and Providence which would serve both railroads.

But then another seemingly insurmountable difficulty arose. The major eastward shift of the line

would cause it to slice through the considerable holdings of Mansfield orchardist Jacob Deane in the

vicinity of the present Fruit Street (which takes its name from his plantation; in 1836 it was called,

for obscure reasons, the Medfield Road). The summer of 1835 being abnormally cold, with frosts

occurring in every month and even some ice on 5 August, fruit-growers already had suffered crop

losses.[9] Deane, though a relatively learned man for his time and place, of course had not heard

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what every present-day Floridian knows, that smoke can protect fruit trees from frost. He became

convinced that noxious emissions from the locomotives would even further damage his trees, and

flat-out refused permission for a right-of-way. Unlike Wheaton, he did not succeed in getting the

railroad moved – his lands sprawled over such an area, about a mile and a quarter broad by three

quarters of a mile, that they were almost impossible to get around, and anyway such a detour would

have resulted in prohibitive wasted mileage – but he did hold up construction for some time.

Deane, then 55 years old, stonewalled all sorts of offers from the railroad company. But like

many of us Yankees he could be bought if the price was right, and his resistance melted when the

Taunton Branch Corporation agreed to build him his own private depot on his own property, about

400 feet west of his mansion-like house.[10] Jacob Deane thereby became, it is said perhaps

incorrectly, the first man in the United States to have his own private passenger station on a common

carrier railroad. This little depot was to be maintained as long as he and his wife lived

The five-foot-square station, known as Deane's, was set in a huckleberry patch on the east side of

the railroad right-of-way, in the middle of a 14-foot-long plank platform. When Deane wanted to

board a train, he toted a special flag from his house to the station and inserted its staff into a hole

drilled in a quarter-round wooden block nailed to the platform in front of the little shelter.[11] That

was the signal for the next approaching train to stop and take its privileged passenger aboard. While

waiting for the cars, Deane could push open the door of his miniature depot and take a seat on one of

two wooden benches on either side of the interior. Above each bench a window faced along the

single track so he could see when the train approached. His family, including two brothers, and

friends also used the little station. As a nice final touch, the railroad company presented Deane with

a lifetime pass engraved with appropriately flourishing typography.[12]

The boarding privilege sometimes was abused. On one occasion Deane's hired man flagged the

train as a joke. As it stopped the conductor jumped off and urged the man to hurry aboard. "I don't

want to get aboard for anything," was the reply. "Then why did you stop the train? We're already

late." "Oh," quoth the joker, "I thought somebody might want to get off."[13]

Jacob Deane's depot remained in service until his death on 15 August 1871[14] after which it was

sold to Clifford Carver of Norton, who used it for a milk shed.[15] In the 1950s an elderly lady[16]

told me she could remember seeing the rotted wooden platform of the station. In the 1960s I

discovered, about 1740 (paced) feet south of Fruit Street grade crossing, a gap in a fieldstone wall

that paralleled the east side of the right-of-way. From that gap the remnant of an old lane bordered

by stone walls ran eastward through thick, jungly woods, marking the path. It was said, however,

that originally a “pretty walk trailed from the front of Jacob Deane‟s mansion across his fields”[17]

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to the little station, of which by the time I visited the spot there was no trace.

To the northward of Deane's property, the Taunton Branch right-of-way ran from East Street south

for a half mile on a diagonal line through the so-called "Ministerial Land" of 74.8 acres, which until

1774 had been owned by the parishioners of Norton North Precinct for the support of their pastor but

by 1835 was the property of (reading from south to north) Marshall Shaw, the Reverend Richard

Briggs and local cotton mill magnate Solomon Pratt, later a Mansfield selectman, who no matter

what deal he was involved in, always managed to land on his feet.[18]

As on the Boston and Providence, the Irishmen building the Taunton Branch sometimes became a

wee bit rambunctious. "A good many of them" boarded in a white-painted Cape Cod style frame

"cottage," one story high in front, two in the rear, that stood in the northeast angle of Allen's Four

Corners, now South Main and Fruit Streets, just under a mile from the Branch track, in Mansfield.

Our ancestors were fond of moving buildings about, and in 1835 and '36 this house, which since has

changed location twice and still exists a short distance north of its original site, was owned by a

well-thought-of citizen named Micah Allen, Jr., [19] who dwelled in a handsome federal-style home

directly westward across the main road.

The Taunton Branch directors, at once horrified and profiting from the example of the Boston and

Providence rum riot, and following the practice established by the other railroads in the Bay State,

had decreed unrealistically that no hard liquor should be allowed their workmen. But Allen's

boarders made an end run around this restriction and smuggled barrels of intoxicating poteen into

their shebang, where they livened their off-duty hours with "drunken carousals." The 66-year-old

Micah Allen, described in local histories as an "ardent Baptist," became so enraged at the constant

disturbance to himself, his family and his neighbors that one evening, after working himself into a

state of righteous rage, he "went over with an ax and stove in their barrels of liquor."[20]

Many of the Irish workmen lived along a road (now Branch Street) in Mansfield that ran parallel

to and later was named after the Taunton Branch track, in a little village the Yankees nicknamed

"Dublin."[21]

I already have mentioned, and farther on in this chapter will describe, how the Boston and

Providence, in cleaving to its straight-line craze through West Mansfield, amputated an elbow of

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what is now School Street along with a large house belonging to one Isaac Lane. In similar manner

the Taunton Branch lopped off a westward-jutting dogleg of Branch Street and along with it the 1795

house and farm purchased in 1828 by Marshall Shaw; Shaw's nearest neighbor being the disgruntled

freight operator Noah Fillebrown, whose ox-teaming business between Taunton, Mansfield and

Boston was about to be ruined by the railroad. A short piece of connecting roadway was built parallel

to the east side of the track to serve, which it still does, as the public street. Because the terrain in the

area was flat as a map, the Taunton corporation did not build Shaw an overpass, as Boston and

Providence did for Lane, but they preserved his access to the main road by means of two private

grade crossings later to become known as Moran's (the northernmost of the two) and Morse's, after

two families that afterward lived "on the wrong side of the tracks." These two crossings still exist,

though the track they crossed was torn up nearly four decades ago.[22]

Maximum grade on the Mansfield-Taunton line was 29 feet to the mile (1 in 182, or 0.55 percent)

approaching the junction with the Boston and Providence,[23] 24 miles from Boston. Elsewhere it

did not exceed one quarter of one percent. Engineering and construction could not have been

difficult, as the land was devoid of topographical obstructions, permitting a minimum of cuts and

fills. In fact, that flat, treeless part of Mansfield through which the line ran had been known since

colonial times as the Eight Mile Plain. Except at the junction, the roadbed was dead straight and was

built to a width of 25 feet rather than the 66-foot width of the Boston and Providence. Unlike the

relatively flimsy construction of the Dedham Branch with its strap rails, the single Taunton track

consisted of 55-pounds-to-the-yard English-made solid wrought iron rails of the "H" or inverted "T"

cross section, spiked down to crossties which (and in this the Taunton Branch practice differed from

that of the Boston and Providence) rested on longitudinal timber stringers laid atop the ballasted

roadbed.[24]

In hiking the length of the Branch many times between Taunton and Mansfield, both before and

after its abandonment in 1967, I used to wonder whether the builders of Foxborough's lofty

Congregational Church deliberately placed their 150-foot steeple in line with the railroad. The

engine crews of northbound daytime trains must have looked ahead to see it, and if they were pious

souls might have attached much significance to the sight. I even speculated that, if the church had

been erected before the Taunton Branch was built, the surveyors might have used its steeple as a

guide in running their line, as the Roman road-builders in ancient England appear to have used

Silbury Hill south of the present rail center of Swindon. But I learned subsequently that the church

was built in 1854, 18 years after the Branch opened. The white steeple is best seen from farthest

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south on the former right-of-way; a little distance north of Moran's private crossing, a mile north of

Fruit Street, it begins to drop below the tree-horizon, being then over 3-1/2 miles away.

In February 1836 two more Mansfield landowners, Ebenezer and Jacob Williams, whose acres

always seemed to be in the way of a railroad, sold property to the Taunton Branch company.[25]

The bitter winter of 1835-36, which was even colder than the previous one, did not smile on the

Taunton Branch surveyors who stood shivering at their transits, having to pocket their warm gloves

while with frozen fingers they turned brass tangent screws and wrote shaky notes in field books; nor

on their leather-mittened helpers who handled target rod and measuring chain and cursed the local

geology and climate as they tried to hammer wooden stakes into the stony frozen earth; nor the

workmen who hacked at the concrete-like ground with pick, spade and crowbar with nary a dram of

rum or whisky to warm their innards. The 16th of December 1835 was one of the coldest days in the

recorded history of eastern Massachusetts, with a temperature reading 14 degrees Fahrenheit below

zero from noon to 3 p. m. Following that deep freeze, the weather turned deceptively warm for a

while. But by 5 February it was so cold Boston Harbor from the wharves to Rainsford's Island, a

distance of seven miles, had entirely frozen over, and three days were spent in cutting a channel

through ice a foot thick to permit the Atlantic-crossing bark Highlander to reach Boston's Central

Wharf.

Meanwhile, over on the nearby Boston and Providence, locomotives were spinning their drive

wheels helplessly on the icy rails, with the result that every man the corporation could round up,

Yankee or Irish, was hired to chip away at the frozen coating. Elijah Dean couldn't resist painting a

poetic picture of this situation:

In last winter 'thirty-six

H--l made but small progression;

The ice unto the rails did stick

Without much intermission.

They hired Harry, Tom and Dick

And almost every paddy;

They hired them upon the tick,

And paid them when they got ready.

Five days a week these men did pick

Upon the icy railing;

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The snow and rain fell once a week,

And froze soon after falling.[26]

Neither did these conditions escape the notice of that keen Mansfield observer Isaac Stearns, then

46 years old, who recorded on 29 February:

This winter has been the coldest winter that I ever recollect experiencing . . . . Some say it has been the

coldest since 1780. The first snow fell November 23rd 1835, when winter commenced with severity. . .

. [T]he ground and roads have had an uncommon amount of ice. . . . . Nineteen snows since Nov. 23rd

inclusive, making 63 inches, or 5 feet, 3 inches. Most of the snows were accompanied . . . with

considerable rain, which has made a vast body of ice.[27]

But "drunk or sober" (as Mansfield historian Jennie Copeland put it), frozen or unfrozen, the

engineers and laborers persevered, and in the welcome summer of 1836 the optimistic folks of

Taunton exulted as the 11-mile tangent of track, second in straight length within the state of

Massachusetts only to the Boston and Providence between Foxborough and Rumford, was spiked

down into the center of their town. The line, like the Boston and Providence, was laid with single

track, but unlike the larger road it was to be more than 50 years before demands of increasing traffic

required a second track to be added.[28] On Wales Street in Taunton the corporation erected a fine

passenger station, a frame building in the Greek Revival style, with the inescapable pillars in the

south-facing front and on one side, so that it looked like a Yankee carpenter's version of the

Parthenon. A belfry similar to that of a church and at least three tall, thin chimneys completed the

picture. This depot lasted until the night before Christmas 1864, when it burned (or perhaps was

burned) to the ground.[29]

* * *

Mansfield also had to have a new station, a half mile north of the previous one which was badly

placed to serve the junction. In the fork of the tracks yet another quaint wooden Greek Revival

building was erected, of two and a half stories, built around a needlessly heavy frame of 12 by 12-

inch posts and beams.[30] Its style was what is sometimes incorrectly called "side-hall colonial,"

with the entrance to the right side of the gable end, two windows to the left of the door and two more

off-center windows above. The eaves had that "tucked-under" triangular look in imitation of the

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capitals of traditional Greek columns whose place was taken by two fluted wooden pilasters built

into the corners of the facade. The slope of the roof was typically shallow, with a chimney in the

center.

As in the previous station, which now became a private home from which the occupants could see,

feel and hear the trains that formerly stopped there clatter past their door in a rolling cloud of

pungent pinewood-smoke, James Greene set up shop in this new passenger house as agent and

proprietor of a general store and remained there for more than 20 years.[31] In it, besides selling

tickets, he served lunches and cider made from apples grown on his own farm.[32] The railroad

corporation described him as "Way Agent at Mansfield," and apparently at some later time he

became the town's postmaster.[33]

A restaurant also was set up in the station about this time, predecessor of a number of fine depot

eating places to come, run by Davis Dunham, who presided over that job for the next 20 years. As to

the store, for once Elijah Dean found nothing to complain about, associated with the hated railroad

though it was, and paints such a charming picture of its interior that one would like to go back and

walk in the door to partake of some of the goodies:

The owners of this railroad house

Keep cider on the counter,

With gingerbread and lemon juice,

But no ardent decanter.

They keep strong beer and sometimes spruce

With peppermints and candies --

And long nines, too, for smoking use,

To gratify the dandies.

Brick loaves and crackers by the gross,

Or single ones or dozens,

And fire works by the box or case,

To set your lamps ablazing.

Tobacco, too, twisted and square,

And essences aplenty,

With many things both fine and rare,

And almost every dainty.[34]

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This new Mansfield depot which, because it served the tracks of two railroad corporations, has

claim to being recognized as one of the nation's earliest "union stations,"[35] remained in use until

1860, when it was moved southward over the roads and converted to a private dwelling which still

stands, and a much larger structure took its place.

The station had a plank platform usually covered with casks, barrels and hogsheads. Near one end

of the platform and stretching along the tracks was a huge pile of seasoned pitch pine cordwood for

engine fuel. James Greene hired two boys to saw the sticks into lengths suitable for the fireboxes of

both railroads. To the south stood the barn-like Taunton Branch engine-house and its turntable. A

windmill-operated pump sucked water from the close-by Rumford River to fill the tanks of the

locomotive tenders.[36]

One complaint about the new depot was that it was inconveniently far from the main part of town.

(Drivers and commuters would now consider this a blessing.) The civic, commercial, religious and

educational center of Mansfield (population about 1500) clustered around the present South

Common, then the only common, near the intersection of North and South Main with East and West

Streets, six-tenths of a mile south of the junction. The railroads were opening up a whole new section

of Mansfield; the new depot stood on the west side of a cow pasture that occupied the site of the

present North Common. Chauncy Street and Rumford Avenue, by one or the other of which one

customarily reaches today's station, did not exist. Instead, passengers had to venture up what is now

North Main Street (then called "the county road to Boston") as far as the present chocolate plant,

then hang a left and backtrack on a road called Crocker Street (not the modern Crocker Street)

parallel to the track. Or an adventurous soul might raise the fence bars and cut across the pasture,

risking the ire of its owner and the resident bull,[37] known to polite Puritans as a "gentleman cow."

Mansfield folk were unhappy with this roundabout and sometimes risky access, but over the years

the problem solved itself as the town slowly grew in the direction of the station and new houses and

streets were built near the junction;[38] and this explains why the older business district of

Mansfield, unlike Foxborough, Norton, Attleboro, Taunton and other nearby towns that in the best

New England tradition have well-defined if traffic-clogged centers like wheel-hubs, sprawls

unbecomingly between the South and North Commons. This same corrective growth toward an

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inconveniently-sited depot would occur later in Canton.[39]

Not only did residences begin to cluster near the junction, but with the cooperation of the town

fathers so did more and more industries as the 19th century rolled by, so that eventually factories

turning out shoes (they moved to Mansfield from Lynn, Massachusetts), steam windlasses (from

Providence), jewelry (from Attleborough – Mansfield's largest industry by 1875), stoves and heaters,

hats, leather, cast iron, taps and dies and chocolate candies all sprouted near the tracks.

As to the junction itself, research by the Mansfield historian suggests that not only in 1836 but as

late as 1848 there was no physical connection between the tracks of the Boston and Providence and

the Taunton Branch, and that passengers and freight arriving at the depot had to be transferred

inconveniently and expensively from the cars of one road to those of the other. This layout, if it

existed, which almost certainly it did not, flies in the face of logic. And indeed other researchers

offer strong evidence that there was a junction switch or turnout at the north end of Mansfield

depot.[40] Thus Mansfield in 1836 became one of the earliest railroad junctions in the United States,

and on the Boston and Providence second only to Readville with its Dedham Branch junction.

As soon as the Taunton road was completed, arrangements were made between it and the larger

railroad to take branch passengers and freight from Mansfield to Providence or Boston.[41] This

service was of great value to the new Branch and to the town of Taunton.

The Branch engine house at Mansfield was situated on the east side of the present Old Colony

Way, in what by 1930 was a large barn directly in back of the undistinguished watering hole known

as The Mansfield House. Here too was the turntable, on a spur track with a south-facing switch

behind what until recently was Stearns's well known stationery store. Passenger trains approaching

Mansfield depot from Taunton on the right-hand curve would perform a hairy maneuver that railroad

men call a "drop" and non-railroaders call a "flying switch." With the spur opened by a switchman,

the engineer closed his throttle, allowing the slack in the moving train to bunch, thereby loosening

the tension in the couplings. A brakeman riding the front of the first car pulled the coupling pin,

detaching the engine from the train; the engineer yanked open the throttle, spurting into the spur; the

switchman closed the points behind him with hardly a moment to spare; and the cars, rolling free,

coasted past the closed switch and around the bend into the station, where the trainmen stopped

them, or so the passengers hoped, by leaning on the hand brake levers.

The engine then was reversed on the hand-pushed turntable, which in keeping with tradition of

unknown origin was always turned counter-clockwise, fueled and watered, and backed onto the cars

in preparation for the return trip to Taunton.[42]

205

Cost of construction of the Taunton Branch Rail Road was only $250,000, or $22,727 per mile,

less than half the cost per mile of the Boston and Providence with its Canton viaduct and Mansfield

bog but far in excess of the original estimate. The total capital paid in by shareholders was also

$250,000.[43]

Records differ as to the opening date of the Taunton Branch. Monday, 8 August 1836, seems to be

the day favored by most who have written on the subject. But the Bristol County Democrat and

Independent Gazette printed in Taunton on Friday, 30 July 1836, tells us:

The Opening of the Taunton Branch Rail Road, on Wednesday last [the 27th], forms a new era in the

history of our town. It brings Boston within one and a half hour's ride from this town, and will enable

its citizens to visit the city, transact their business, and return the same day.

. . . . The cars left at a quarter before five o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived at the juncture with

the Boston and Providence Rail Road in Mansfield, in less than half an hour. The branch rail road is

about seven [sic] miles in length, and is one of the best constructed in the country.

But now we hear from Isaac Stearns, who writes in his diary on Sunday, 7 August:

Cars began to make regular trips on the Branch Rail Road from Taunton to Mansfield.[44]

The answer to this disagreement of dates may lie in the probability that the early runs, like those

on Boston and Worcester, or the June 1834 steam outings or 2 June 1835 horse-drawn ride over the

Boston and Providence, were inspection trips or excursions, operated for the benefit of the officers of

the company, their friends and the press. Certainly the Sabbath start-up recorded by Stearns would

seem to be one of those. It is a fair bet to assume that regularly scheduled service commenced on

Monday, 8 August 1836.

President of the Taunton Branch Rail Road Corporation in 1836 was Thomas B. Wales of Boston,

who also had held the presidency and a directorship of Boston and Providence; the treasurer was W.

F. Otis.[45]

The first Branch Rail Road advertisement was printed in a Taunton newspaper in 1836. The fare

from Taunton to Boston was $1.50 and to Providence with a change of cars at Mansfield was

$1.00.[46] Nothing was said in the ad about first and second class passenger fares, which were the

practice on the Boston and Providence.

The Branch was of immense benefit to Taunton, both short and long term. Prior to the arrival of

the railroad, Taunton had languished in an economic slump; textile mills had shut down and laid off

206

workers, and the sloops docking on Taunton River carried far less cargo than formerly. But the town

remained a major center of textile machinery manufacture, and the new railroad and its connection

with the Boston and Providence opened a direct link with numerous customers in southeastern New

England. Firms like the Taunton Britannia Manufacturing Company,[47] the former transport of

whose barrels of "pewter" ware by wagon had been hampered by mud in spring and snow in winter,

now, with Boston markets two hours away, could offer all-season rail communication as well as the

bright possibility of future overland routes to customers in the South. The railroad enabled

Britannia's Boston distributors to eliminate their inventory risks by keeping smaller stocks on hand,

reordering more frequently and receiving by train what they ordered with little or no delay.[48]

Yet, to look at the other side of the coin, the railroads, in aiding the growth of these larger

industries along their lines, had an opposite effect on the smaller ones situated at a distance from the

tracks, with which – like today‟s small-town mom-and-pop businesses faced with the likes of

Walmart – found it impossible to compete and were squeezed out of existence.[49]

The matter of Taunton Branch locomotives has long been puzzling. I have seen no evidence that

the line, as short and flat as it was, and with the Boston and Providence junction handy for trans-

loading and delivery of building materials, used steam power during construction.

For at least a year after the road opened in 1836 they owned only one engine, the aptly-named

Taunton, built in that year by Locks and Canals in Lowell (construction number 13). The date and

number indicate that this was not the same engine as the Taunton built later for the expanded New

Bedford and Taunton Railroad.[50] Since Locks and Canals at that time built only clones of

Stephenson's 1830-model Planet, of which a fair sample was Boston and Providence's original

Whistler/Massachusetts, it can be assumed, in the absence of mechanical specifications, that the

locomotive was an inside-connected 2-2-0 type with 60-inch drive wheels and 11 by 16-inch

cylinders. It was described as being a 30-horsepower "high pressure" locomotive.[51]

Taunton must have been a reliable machine, or the Branch shops employed some excellent

mechanics, because it made two daily round trips over the easy, grade-free, curve-free road between

its namesake town and Mansfield without interruption, totaling 44 miles per day. This engine may

have remained in Taunton Branch service (no doubt heavily modified) for more than 50 years. In

1837 the company acquired a second engine, New Bedford,[52] which for unknown reasons was

gone from the roster by 1839, in which year the Branch obtained from Locks and Canals Rocket and

in 1840 Meteor, a name already popularized by Boston and Worcester. Rocket too may have put in

207

more than five decades of service. Meteor was reboilered in 1851 by Taunton Locomotive

Manufacturing Company, and it also appears to have enjoyed a long life.

NOTES

1. Harlow 1946: 77.

2. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3, 4.

3. Lozier 1978-86: 310. Mills and Dwight were prime movers in the burgeoning Massachusetts textile industry. The

aptly-named James K. Mills (1798-1863) removed from western Massachusetts to Boston and in 1822 with Dwight

began selling textiles for cotton mills; both men co-founded Mills & Co. He was involved with textile mills in Taunton,

including the 5000-spindle Whittenton Mill, at Chicopee and Lowell, Mass., and even in Indiana, and was treasurer of

several mills and machine shops. He was elected treasurer of Hadley Falls Co., whose purpose was to build and maintain

a dam, locks and canals on Connecticut River at Holyoke; when the dam collapsed, he wired his Boston partners the

famous one-liner, "Dam gone to Hell by way of Willimanset." Mills was the first treasurer of the Lyman Mills, and in

Feb. 1855 was one of the incorporators of Holyoke (Mass.) Savings-Bank and was chosen to serve the bank as secretary

for one year. After Mills & Co. failed in the panic of 1857 he joined the new Baltimore dry goods commission

partnership of Mills, Mahew & Co. (ibid.: 291-4). During the early part of the Civil War he was a major stockholder in

Ames Sword Co.

Mills's partner, merchant-capitalist Edmund Dwight (1780-1849), also from western Massachusetts, was graduated

from Yale in 1799, studied law, and served 1810-13 and 1815 in the Massachusetts legislature. He removed to Boston in

1819 and joined with Mills. In 1848 with two others he incorporated Hadley Falls Co. and also built a large textile mill in

Chicopee. In his latter years he stumped for improved public schooling and served on the state Board of Education (ibid.:

295-7).

Mills and Dwight were also invested in Western R. R. and Connecticut Valley R. R. (ibid.: 310); Dwight went about

Boston with Josiah Quincy peddling Western stock (Harlow 1946: 120).

4. Lozier 1986: 55-6.

5. And in spite of Gerstner's misleading statement (1842-43/1997: 330) that Taunton Branch was an "important

branch of the Boston & Providence . . . ."

6. The Boston Weekly Advocate of 18 Aug. 1835 contains a similar report, noting that the stock "has been rapidly

taken up" and "Capital $150,000." Both references courtesy of D. Forbes 2002. As might have been expected, the

railroad cost far more to build – $250,000.

208

7. Courtesy of D. Forbes 2002.

8. Copeland 1936-56: 59 and 29 Dec. 1955. As has been mentioned, a railroad increases property values.

9. East Mansfield farmer Isaac Stearns recorded that in 1835 his apple trees first blossomed 29 May, nine days later

than the average of the first blooming of the previous 37 years and later than any previous year save two (OFA 1858: 4).

Yankee farmers had no way of knowing that the unusual cold was caused by a sun-veiling dust cloud thrown up by the

Nicaraguan volcano Cosiguina.

10. Deane's house, "a splendid type of large square colonial with a hip roof" built in 1728, now long gone (it burned

to the ground in 1917), stood on the east side of Fruit St. at a leftward bend in the road about 1000 feet south of Short St.

His property, "one of the finest estates in this vicinity," included a large tract of land bought from the Indians by an

ancestor, extending from the present Norton town line and Reservoir St. east to Ware and Essex Sts., north to Fruit and

Hall Sts., both sides of the present Short St., and all of what is now the Mansfield municipal airport (Copeland 1929b). I

procrastinated too long with my plans to investigate and map Deane's historic site, including the foundation and cellar

hole of his dwelling; a housing development has obliterated all signs of farmhouse, station and the connecting lane. In

1877 the Deane house was bought by Albert Chase (no known relation to the writer), who lived there until 1904; during

that time, his name ("Chase's crossing") was given informally to the nearby Fruit St. grade crossing. Deane's name on

Hewin's 1831 map of Mansfield is spelled without the final "e."

11. G. Embert “Bert” Leonard, a local historical authority, “recalled that the station was an eight by twelve-foot shed-

like affair. He said the flag that was used to halt trains was rolled up and hung on hooks inside the station.” Mansfield historian Jennie F. Copeland said the flag was kept in Deane‟s home (Carlos 1971). 12. Belcher 1938: no. 2. Deane (1780-1871), who was versed in Greek and Latin, had given up his career as a

schoolteacher in favor of horticulture. Copeland (1930a) reports that he grew 100 varieties of apples, as well as plums,

pears, peaches, cherries, mulberries and ornamental trees. Some of his plantings were imported from England, and he is

said to have written Queen Victoria in regard to trees. Deane was born in the 1728 house which had been erected by an

ancestor, and was a grandson of the Dea. William Deane who in colonial times took 18 hours to bring his bride and her

fixings 18 miles from Dedham to Mansfield (Copeland 1929b).

As with so many matters involving early U. S. railroads, a precedent for private stations had been established in

Britain, where they became numerous – at one time as many as 1600! They were defined as stations not advertised for

public use and not listed in public timetables. Some of these, usually specified in the railway's Act, were built under

bargain with landowners, reflecting the vast political power that such land barons had. Often the railway would accede

out of expediency to a landowner's desire for his own depot rather than do battle in the courts for the value of the

purchase of a right-of-way; this may be what happened in Deane's case. The greatest number of private stations existed

in Scotland, where land ownership laws differed from those in England and Wales and where individual holdings were

much more extensive than those in the south. A number of private depots survived Nationalization and in 2001 were

owned by Railtrack. Many of those persons "entitled" to the surviving private stations retain the right to have any

passing train stop there at their request, a requirement that does not engender popularity with the railway operating

authorities (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2001).

A judge in 1888 ruled that not only the granddaughter but all descendants of John C. Dodge of the Dodgeville section

of Attleborough, were entitled to travel free on Boston & Providence because of a privilege written into Dodge's original

conveyance of land to the railroad entitling his family to ride free over the line as long as the land was used for railroad

purposes. (Sci. Am. Supp. 662, 8 Sept. 1888, p. 144.)

209

13. Copeland 1929b.

14. Belcher 1938: no. 2.

15. Copeland 1929b.

16. Mrs. Ruth (Walker) Flint pers. comm. 1966.

17. Carlos 1971.

18. Briggs owned 41 acres on both sides of the rail line, bought from Pratt 13 Jan. 1832. (Bristol Cty Northern Dist.

registry of deeds, Book 149, pp. 54-55.) In 2003 the 1.58-mile section of the abandoned roadbed between East and Fruit

Sts. was converted by its owner the town of Mansfield at a cost of a half million dollars (twice the cost of the entire

Taunton Branch when built in 1835-'36) to a blacktopped hiking and biking "trail."

19. As our forebears liked to move houses, we of the present like to misdate them. The "Cape Cod cottage" in which

Allen boarded the rowdy workers was built after 1805, because the deed by which he bought the property, dated 24 Sept.

of that year, mentions no buildings on the site. Allen is listed as owner of the house on Hewins's 1831 map of Mansfield.

In 1840 the "Micah Allen homestead," as the former boarding house was called (apparently Allen lived there while he

built the larger federal style house across the street), made the first of two moves when it was dragged a little over a

quarter mile southward down the road to the site of the former home of my ancestor the Rev. Ebenezer White (Copeland

1930b) which Allen then also owned. In April 1970 it was hauled back in the opposite direction and placed on a new

foundation at 362 South Main St. between Fruit and Edgewood Sts., where it was refurbished with what appears to be

yellow-painted stucco; and a new house, the third on that location, was built near the former spot at 500 South Main St.

The present house at 396 South Main St. in the northeast corner of Fruit St. is not the original boarding house, though it

displays the date "C.1800" on a plaque, but was built after 1840 on, or at least moved to, the site of Allen's homestead

and may have served as a tavern, because some of the bedroom doors are said to be numbered.

20. Copeland 1930b, 1936-56: 61-2.

21. The sobriquet "Dublin" stuck into the late 19th century; a Mansfield map of 1871 lists the names Lynch,

Kennedy, Hurley, McGrath and Walsh against the houses along the road.

22. In England these would be called "occupation level crossings." Shaw's house is now 253 Branch St. Shaw later

served as Mansfield town clerk and postmaster. Perhaps he tired of the trains passing his front door, because after 1850

he lived at North Main and Fulton Sts. in Mansfield and opened an "oyster saloon" in his house.

23. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331, 785.

24. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331.

25. B&P right of way and track map, 1915. The quit claim deed of Ebenezer Williams, who also sold two parcels of

land to Boston and Providence, was signed 17 Feb. and recorded 19 Feb. 1836 in Book 149, p. 148, at Bristol Cty

Northern Dist. Registry of Deeds, Taunton, Mass.; the warranty deed of Jacob Williams et al. was signed 4 February and

recorded 19 Feb. 1836, Book 149, p. 149.

26. Copeland 1931d. "Upon the tick" is an old English expression meaning on trust or credit. Perhaps it was during

December of this bitter winter that the water in a Boston & Providence locomotive "froze solid."

27. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 413.

28. Copeland 1931d.

29. Levasseur 1994: 17-8; see p. 17 for photograph of original Taunton depot.

30. D. Pitman, pers. comm. 1981; evidence of builder A. B. Cauldwell who was then making repairs on the former

depot.

210

31. Copeland 1931b. She consistently spells Greene's name without the final "e," which like the "e" on Deane may

have been an affectation.

32. On 1 May 1858 Isaac Stearns writes, "Finished grafting apple trees for James Green [sic]."

33. A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2002, evidence of Boston and Providence invoices and payables dated Sept. 1846,

though the post office is not named.

34. Copeland 1931b. "Long nines" were a variety of Connecticut-grown thin panatella cigar. The "tobacco" was for

the almost universal 19th century American habit of chewing and spitting, which so disgusted foreign visitors like

Dickens. Dean might have been less enchanted if he‟d known Greene also kept a saloon in the station. 35. Mansfield's union depot was early but not the country's first. The Utica & Schenectady and the Mohawk &

Hudson railroads jointly constructed and used a passenger station in Schenectady apparently about 1834 or 1835

(Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 129, 131, 163). Mansfield depot, however, was never spoken of, listed in timetables as, or

labeled by a sign over its entrance as a "union station," nor did it serve a metropolis; and if these criteria are requisites,

then perhaps as Levitt (2002: 7) stated (though I disagree), "The Providence 'union station' . . . of 1848 was probably the

first-opened 'union' station in the U. S., but history does not reveal what was stated over the door."

Levitt by 2003 seems to have some second thoughts, because he wrote me: "I define a union station as an edifice

which serves more than one railway, or at which the trains of more than one railway normally stop for traffic purposes. A

'union station' need not have that term in its title (e.g., Grand Central Terminal), nor need it be jointly owned by each of

the companies that call there. Many of the relatively early 'union stations' appear to have been the station of one company

sited where its rails were crossed by another, with trains of both companies stopping there. Ownership is not important;

in the case of many U. S. 'union stations,' the station building, its track, yards, and shunting locomotives were owned and

operated by a 'terminal company' or terminal railroad.'" By all of these criteria, the Mansfield depot of 1836 was a true

union station.

36. J. W. Haines 17 Sept. 1948 and pers. comms. from him in 1948.

37. J. W. Haines, pers. comm. 1948.

38. E. Atherton of East Mansfield first called this interesting stretching-out to my attention. Present Mansfield

residents and commuters who complain of the poor location of their depot and its attendant parking difficulties and

traffic jams can blame the dead hand of the past for lying too heavily on those who in 1956 rebuilt on the 1836 location

after the sole justification for the station's being there had disappeared with the tearing up of the Taunton track junction.

Better would have been a site halfway between Mansfield and East Foxboro, or between Mansfield and West Mansfield;

the land for a depot and adequate parking was available then, but now it is not. In 2003 depot planners continued to

kowtow to the early 19th century planners and located a new station on the now-inconvenient site of the 1836 union

depot.

39. The railroad, Thoreau noted (Journal 22 Aug. 1850), tended "to convert the country into the town."

Furthermore, it appeared "to have unsettled the farmers. Our young Concord farmers and their young wives, hearing the

bustle about them, seeing the world all going by, as it were, – some daily to the cities about their business, some to

California, – plainly cannot make up their minds to live the quiet, retired, old-fashioned, country-farmer's life. They are

impatient if they live more than a mile from a railroad. While all their neighbors are rushing to the [rail]road, there are

few who have character or bravery enough to live off the road. He is too well aware what is going on in the world not to

wish to take some part in it" (op. cit. 28 Sept. 1851).

211

40. Copeland (1931b) writes, "In those days the Taunton Branch did not join the Boston and Providence road.

Mansfield was its terminal." Miss Copeland, a veritable walking encyclopedia of Mansfield history whom I knew

personally, and whose research as far as I can see was generally detailed and accurate, unfortunately does not provide the

source for her claim. J. W. Haines, a Mansfield historian and authority on Abraham Lincoln, in researching Lincoln's

change of trains at Mansfield in 1848, informed me (pers. comm. 1948) of having learned that as late as that year the

Taunton Branch track dead-ended on the east side of Mansfield depot without any switch connecting it to the B&P.

Haines's statement, probably derived from Copeland's writings, probably is in error. Apparent on-the-spot observations

tell of the interchange of cars between the two railroads in 1839 (Gerstner 1842-3/1997: 331), and by 1 July 1840 the two

roads appear to have been connected, because on that day, to celebrate the opening of the New Bedford & Taunton R. R.,

a trainload of politicians made its way from Boston via Mansfield to Taunton and return, with no mention of a change of

cars at the junction. On 26 January 1842 Isaac Stearns wrote that he went to Boston "on the evening train of cars from

Norton" (Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 561). If a physical separation of the two railroads did exist at Mansfield in 1836, common

sense would suggest that the gap was soon bridged with a turnout; otherwise, passengers and lading would have to be

transferred awkwardly between trains of the two roads.

41. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6.

42. Copeland 1931b; J. W. Haines, pers. comm. 1948. I have heard it said by railroad men that turntables and horse

race tracks always operated in a counter-clockwise direction. Miss Copeland writes, "The train would come up from

Taunton at full speed and at, say, East street, the engine would be uncoupled and the cars would come the rest of the way

on their own momentum." East St. being nearly a half mile south of the turntable switch I doubt if the "drop" was

performed that far in advance, especially as the 0.55% upgrade of the remaining track would quickly kill any initial

momentum imparted to the coaches.

43. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331 (on pp. 366-7 Gerstner gives the "Capital expended to date (1839)" as $260,000 and

the average cost per route mile as $23,636; see also ibid.: 785); OFA 1848: 38.

44. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 427. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 331) gives 26 Aug. as opening day. Belcher (1938: no. 2) and

Copeland (29 Dec. 1955) say 8 August.

45. Names printed on a Taunton Branch Rail Road Corporation stock certificate dated 1 Aug. 1836, made out to

Thomas R. Sewall and transferred from Sewall to Charles Cunningham.

46. Austin 20 June 1962.

47. Makers of quality teapots, lamps, coffee urns and a great number of other "pewter" (correctly, "britannia metal")

household items.

48. Gibb 1943: 165.

49. Westbrook 1982: 182-183.

50. C. Fisher April 1938: 48.

51. C. Fisher 1943-98: 12.

52. Taunton and New Bedford were listed in the U. S. Treasury Report of 1838 (C. Fisher 1943-98: 12) as 30-

horsepower engines built by Locks & Canals in 1836 and 1837 while George W. Whistler was superintendent or

chief engineer at the Lowell plant, and were in service in 1838.

212

13 – A Mansfield poet critiques the B. and P.

Now that the Boston and Providence Rail Road sliced the town of Mansfield in a diagonal northeast-

southwest direction (and shortly the Taunton Branch was to form a "juncture" there), Isaac Stearns,

that tireless pedestrian, made good use of the trains. On 6 January 1836 he wrote in his diary, "Went

from Mansfield to Attleboro in cars . . . , RR ticket 25 cents." After arriving at Attleborough, he

wended his way somehow, most likely on foot, to Seekonk, and added, in explaining his return to

Mansfield, "P. M. got on cars at Seekonk, pd 75 cents."[1]

On 21 January he tells us in his diary that he "Set out in Railroad cars to Attleboro to get

subscribers for the [Bristol County Democrat and] Independent Gazette." On 6 May, he "Started [on

foot] from Pawtucket at sunrise, took the cars at Attleboro, arrived home [in East Mansfield, after a

two-mile walk from Mansfield depot] at 9 A. M." And again, on 24 May, "To Boston in cars.

Attended New England Anti-Slavery Convention."

Living where he did, on what is now Stearns Avenue in the northeast corner of Mansfield, Isaac

Stearns, when coming from Boston, often as not detrained at the Foxborough depot and made the

cross-country hike, also of about two miles (but he saved on the train fare), to his home. On 26 May,

he wrote, "4 P. M. started for home in cars. Arrived at Foxboro in one hour."[2] This trip, which no

doubt included stops at Readville, Canton and elsewhere, was made at an average speed of 21-1/2

miles per hour.

As proof that train-riding hadn't softened him up: "To Providence on cars. To Pawtucket and home

on foot." This was 30 June 1836.[3]

One of the hazards of single-track railroads is unplanned violent meetings between opposing

trains. Fortunately, Stearns was not aboard the Boston-bound train that on Wednesday, 29 June 1836,

the day previous to his trip to the Rhode Island capital and less than a year after the railroad began

through service, collided head-on at full speed with a Dedham train on a blind curve near Tremont

Street crossing in Roxbury, 1-1/2 miles outside the Boston terminal. One of the locomotives was

driven back into its cars, killing the fireman. A litigious-minded Lieutenant Russ and five other

seamen or marines, riding in the forward cars of the train from Providence, and two civilian

213

passengers named Thompson and Brown were injured in differing degrees of severity.[4]

The Mansfield poetaster Elijah Dean, whose acid comments on the Kirk Yard affair we have

already read, when he learned of the wreck unburdened himself of some more doggerel which, if not

quite worthy of a laurel wreath, at least will serve as a sort of early accident report:

In Roxbury, a fatal stroke

Which seems beyond expression

Some joints put out and bones were broke

By means of this concussion.

The Providence and Dedham cars

With ram's play interlocked;

The battle came at unawares,

Because the road was crooked.

One steam-car was so driven back,

It tore two cars to flitters;

And every piece they had to take

To rig out biers and litters.

The wounded chiefly were marines

For navy use created,

So Uncle Sam must pay for means

To have their bones located.

But should strict justice take effect,

Then must the corporation

Pay those marines without neglect,

With ample compensation.

Likewise James Thompson was most killed,

And went to the hospital;

He on his crutches is upheld

And gains but very little.

214

This fracas did the fire-man kill,

Of course his wife's a widow;

I hope the corporation will

This woman's case consider.

Among the rest one Thomas Brown

Had his neck so distorted

That o'er his back his head hung down,

And was almost inverted.

But finally his head arose

Which placed his neck beneath it;

And now if he does turn his nose

His body must turn with it.[5]

The cause of this accident was flagrant disregard of safe procedures. The engineer of the inbound

train, feeling like the king of the hill, decided he could reach the terminal before the Dedham train

departed, and though having no authorization to do so, passed his usual waiting point at speed. The

conductor of the Dedham train may have improperly allowed it to depart ahead of schedule. Thus the

fireman and passengers were victims of compound recklessness. A letter written six months after the

accident by Boston and Providence president William W. Woolsey to Robert Schuyler, secretary of

the connecting steamboat company sheds light on the root of the problem. It is, says Woolsey,

Essential to safe management of [the] road crossed seven to ten times daily that full and precise

orders should be in possession of every person on the line to enable them to avoid collision with

opposite trains . . . .

To furnish Conductors and others with definite instructions would be of little use if they are liable

to be changed without sufficient notice. We have adopted the following rule in relation to all trains

excepting the S. B. [steamboat] trains from Providence.

That no alteration of the published hours of departure of trains from depots can be made and no

new passenger train dispatched over the road (Steam Boat trains from Boston excepted) unless a

notice of 72 hours has been received by the Superintendent . . . .[6]

215

The fact that the boat trains were excepted from this tightening of regulations made matters

potentially worse. Regularly scheduled runs leaving the opposite ends of the line at fixed times were

expected, if all went well, to meet at the midpoint of Foxborough, the train that got there first taking

siding to let the other one through.[7] This method of predetermined scheduled meeting points is

now called the "positive meet" system. In the early days of no wayside signals or other

communication, if the opposing train did not show up in a certain number of minutes the waiting

train was authorized to leave the siding and proceed cautiously on the single track, slowing to a

crawl at danger points and sending a brakeman with a blue (not red) flag[8] hot-footing ahead to

peer around the next curve; while the tardy train, when its conductor saw by his pocket watch that he

had overrun his time at the proposed meeting place, would stop and begin to back cautiously toward

the nearest siding in his rear, to the discomfiture of his passengers.

But the departure time of the northbound “Steamboat Train” from Providence depended on the

arrival of the connecting boat from New York, which in bad weather might be delayed from one to

12 hours. This set up a dangerous uncertainty, because the southward trains leaving Boston at regular

times were running on single track head-to-head with northward trains operating at irregular and

unpredictable intervals out of Providence.

With no telegraphic or other means of communication from station to station and no wayside

signaling devices, when schedules were upset the trains had to run on "smoke orders" – if an

engineer unexpectedly saw smoke ahead, he slowed or stopped his train until he could make out

whether the cloud came from the stack of an opposing train bearing down on him or was just Farmer

Brown burning grass or brush near the tracks; and if the oncoming train was stopped, was it safely in

a siding or holding the main track face to face with his own. To our minds, accustomed to automatic

block signals, cab signals, train control devices, train orders or track warrants and radio, these

methods of train operation seem frighteningly haphazard.

The difficulty with stopping a train was that the locomotives had no brakes. The engine could be

reversed while in motion, putting the drive wheels in a powered backspin, but on wet rail this might

result in the engine skating ahead as if on ice. The cars were controlled only by hand brakes which in

emergencies the trainmen applied on hearing or seeing a signal from the engineer.[9] But as Boston

and Providence locomotives apparently were not yet equipped with steam whistles, the brakemen

evidently were on their own. It had been determined by experience that the average passenger train

216

running 20 miles per hour on dry rail needed one eighth of a mile to come to a halt; on wet rail twice

that distance was required. This meant that the enginemen of two opposing approaching trains on a

rainy day would have to see each other and reverse their engines a minimum of a half mile apart to

avoid a head-on smash.[10] On curves, that generally was impossible, though sometimes a cloud of

smoke appearing above the trees or over the cut bank on the inside of a curve gave sufficient

warning.

The Boston and Providence's accident list had begun early, with livestock, farm wagons and

sometimes pedestrians being knocked off now and then,[11] but the victims of the June 1836

collision were the first humans to suffer death and injury aboard one of their trains. The railroad

company (not surprisingly, in the wake of the rum rebellion, the Kirk Yard affair and the numerous

other trespasses against public decorum and property) already had become unpopular with the

citizens of Massachusetts in general and in particular of Boston, whose staid residents were not

accustomed to this sort of reckless disorder, and a great hue and cry resulted.

No less unhappy with the Roxbury head-on wreck than Elijah Dean was the Boston and

Providence Rail Road Company itself. Bashed-up survivors of the collision, namely Lieutenant Russ

and the other five seamen or marines injured in the accident, encouraged by public cheerleaders,

brought suit against the corporation. The case occupied several days before the supreme court of the

Commonwealth, where the railroad quite properly took a beating. The highly respected Chief Justice

Lemuel Shaw “summed up the case in a clear and lucid manner,” and knowing that the railroad

corporation did not occupy a position of high regard among the citizens of Massachusetts,

“instructed the jury, in case they should decide against the defendants, not to award vindictive

damages, but reasonable remuneration, under the circumstances of the case, for the injury sustained

by each of the plaintiffs.”

But the injured men found a sympathetic jury, which came in with high awards anyway, and they

limped out of court on 6 January 1837 with jingling pockets. Though all except the unlucky and

unnamed fireman recovered in a short while, they were rewarded far in excess of Elijah Dean‟s

“ample compensation” or Chief Justice Shaw‟s “reasonable remuneration;” namely, in the amount of

$11,350, way over and above what cool reason demanded.[12] One plaintiff, who received an

internal injury, was granted $3000; two others got $2250 each; another $1500; and two who were

slightly injured received $175 apiece. In addition Lieutenant Russ was awarded by compromise or

arbitration $2000, a huge sum for the time, bringing the awards to a figure that the railroad was hard

217

pressed to pay. A current newspaper commented, “It is hoped that the verdicts will have a salutary

tendency in preventing hereafter the occurrence of rail road accidents through carelessness.”[13]

Which they did!

In proportion as the accident had caused a furor of outrage among the good citizens of Boston, the

money paid the victims knocked the socks off the railroad‟s attorneys and management. President

Woolsey, in a letter of 8 January 1837 addressed to director John F. Loring, tried his best to make

lemonade out of the lemon the court handed him:

Verdict of the jury in the sailors [sic] case is double what I thought it might be, but [I] am satisfied

that everything has been done by yourself and Mr. Lee and our counsel that could have been done on

the defence. This case is very instructive and if the proper use is made of it, we may, convert into a

benefit that which now appears to be a misfortune. In settling for the verdict I hope you will put the

payments as far forward as you can.[14]

The railroad corporation decided not to appeal the court‟s decision on the basis that the appeals

court was “loaded” with anti-railroad people.[15]

Woolsey‟s letter to Loring was followed three days later by another, longer one addressed by

Woolsey to W. Raymond Lee, in which he seems in a nice way to be lecturing his genial

superintendent about a certain laxity in operations and subtly urging him to be more hard-nosed in

his insistence on obedience to instructions:

I have Mr. Nichols and Mr. Lorings [sic] letters stating the result of the late trials in Boston that we

consider every exertion was made by Mr. Loring, Mr. Nichols and yourself and by our counsel, it

seems at the same time that the verdicts are enormous and are to be accounted for mainly by prejudice

which has been so industriously exerted against our corporation. As we now know what are our

liabilities, and what may result from casualties which the law may construe into negligence it behoves

[sic] the officers of the company so to carry on in the operations that the Corporation may not again

be exposed to such enormous damages. To avoid every thing that may tend to injure the Companys

[sic] property or endanger the life or limbs of the passengers require their utmost care and attention

and I beg of you to impress on the minds of every one especially those who have the care of trains

that they have to follow your directions implicitly as to speed, time of stopping, attention to engine

and cars on the road and above all to their progress around curves. You will also please to recollect

218

that the Board at the meeting of Dec. 14 limited the times over the road to 2-1/2 hours when the boats

begin to run [evidently they were wharfbound in winter] the speed may be complained of but I hope

that no efforts that can be made will induce either you or me to consent to its being increased. If the

Conductor, Engineman and others do not adhere to your instructions you will I trust exercise a

discrete but decisive authority over them . . . .

Several weeks after the termination of the seamen‟s case, a cryptic note in a Boston paper informs

us that, “Several passengers on the cars from Providence [were] severely frost bitten while detained

on the road, from the freezing of the water.”[16] The paper made no mention, however, of a lawsuit.

To curb its hot-rodding engineers, the directors, as mentioned in Woolsey‟s letter, had padded the

one-way schedule between Boston and Providence to the tune of 30 to 60 extra minutes by

specifying that henceforth it would be made "in not less than two and a half hours." One means of

accomplishing this slowdown was to reestablish, at a board of directors‟ meeting on 16 December, a

five-minute stop for the Providence-bound “Steamboat Train” at Canton and a two-minute halt at

Attleborough;[17] both these towns previously having been left in the dust as the boat train rolled

through non-stop. Even this relatively leisurely pace (17 miles per hour, including three stops – the

third was at Mansfield) was swifter than any highway coach, though not much of an improvement

over the relays of horses that had carried President Jackson's message from Providence to Boston in

two hours 45 minutes.

Movements of scheduled trains were supposed to be governed by their conductors' key-wound

pocket watches which, though not yet standardized or subject to periodic inspection (this would

happen about 1850), were compared before each trip with standard pendulum-driven regulators in

the terminal depots. If a question arose among the trainmen and enginemen as to whose watch was

correct, the conductor's timepiece ruled. That train crews had been tampering with their watches is

implied in Woolsey‟s letter to Lee, in which, to insure that the two-and-a-half-hour over-the-road

schedule was not cheated on, he introduced a new twist in foolproof timekeeping:

I hope you will procure two good watches [and] have them placed in a box on the Engine, the key to

be with the Master of Transportation, make it his duty to have them kept in good order and to be

delivered to the Conductor of S. B. [steamboat] trains from Providence at the time it departs.[18]

The up-beat side of train wrecks is that they inspire safety improvements of one kind or another,

and this head-ender probably is what led to double-tracking the line from Boston to Roxbury.

219

Probably also in response to the accident, the following appears in the 1836 Boston and Providence

rulebook:

Trains will at all times move round curves slowly and with a good look-out; the engine bell will be

rung at intervals of time until the engine has passed from the curve on to the straight line. The engine

bell will be rung when a train is within eighty rods [1/4 mile] of a "crossing," (which it will approach

slowly,) and will continue to be rung until the train occupies the "crossing."[19]

That prudent practices were also being ignored by track workers is suggested by Woolsey‟s letter

to Schuyler, which says that “Officers of the Company” have given attention to safety instructions

issued to employes “working on the road bed, who must have small cars and other impediments” and

who shall, at the approach of a train, “remove any obstructions to safe passage.”[20]

All these good intentions had no effect on pacifying Mansfield's implacable Elijah Dean, who

having heard that Hell (or "h--l," as he liked to spell it) is paved with same, continued to hammer out

vituperative verse aimed at his personal bete noire. His epic poem gets under way by tracking a

Boston-bound train from the Rhode Island border. Jennie Copeland, having plowed through his

wordy opus and incorporated the more interesting parts into two historical articles in the local paper,

follows his "Impressions" (as he called them) from stanza two "on the border of Seekonk hard by the

Pawtucket River where 'he was scared by a smoke as black as ink.'"

I thought at first that h--l broke loose,

Or else some fiery meteor

Had missed its way, or lost its course

And come from the equator.

The next I thought 'twas h--l on trucks,

On wheels I see it coming;

And thought the passengers were folks

That had received their damning.

220

But when I had a more full glimpse

Of h--l upon a level;

I thought the passengers were imps,

The engineer the d---l.

Miss Copeland explains, "On closer view of the people he decided that they were not imps but

those who had burst the bars of h--l, and escaped. . . . When the truth comes to him that these are

merely humble folks he plainly says that they had better have staid at home and saved their money to

buy bread to keep them from starving. Further on he voices the same thought."

If they should choose to pay h--l fare,

That they their deaths may quicken,

Who of us need ever care

If all their necks are broken.

"In his lay Mr. Dean follows the path of the train, commenting on the various aspects of railroad

corporation, landscape, and people, as the road approached Mansfield . . . . He knew all the abutting

landowners by name [including] John C. Dodge, for whom Dodgeville was named.

"The Attleboros at that time were all one town with the railroad station at East Attleborough (the

Attleboro that we know). Mr. Dean's remarks about that town are rather caustic."

In Attleborough, East Parish,

A place is made for stopping;

The neighbors there have got their wish

And makes them feel quite topping.

And that is all that it avails,

Except it makes them lazy;

So h--l must stop upon these rails

To make access more easy.[21]

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* * *

One person whose nose, if not irreversibly fixed in the style of the unfortunate Thomas Brown,

was figuratively bent out of joint by the Boston and Providence was Isaac Lane of Mansfield. What

Jacob Deane and Marshall Shaw were to the Taunton Branch, Lane was to Boston and Providence.

He and his wife Sally lived in a large 1790 center-chimney house (more recently the G. Jean

Findlater house, 400 Old School Street) that faced east near the westward-jutting corner of a country

road halfway to West Mansfield. The Boston and Providence, backed by weightier political clout and

therefore more unstoppable than the Taunton road, showing no more regard for Lane's dwelling than

for Attleborough Kirk Yard, had announced their intent to slice off the highway corner and shove the

road 150 feet to the east to get it out of their path.[22] Lane's house, being also cut off, would have

to be moved along with the road. Not only was it moved, it was rotated 180 degrees and set on a

newly built foundation so that it now faced west toward the new roadway and the railroad. As a

result, the right-of-way, which at that point was excavated down to bedrock through a 15-foot-deep

cut, blocked Lane off from safe and easy access to his pastures on the west side of the track.

Lane, though he modestly styled himself a "yeoman" (farmer), was a man of some substance – 20

years previously he had bought and owned the Rumford Cotton Manufacturing Company in

Mansfield – and he leaned with sufficient weight on the railroad corporation so that in 1836 they

built him, not a private depot, as Taunton Branch had done for Deane, nor a private grade crossing,

as in the case of Shaw, but a well-constructed private and personal overpass, the only such bridge, to

my knowledge, on the Boston-Providence line.

The legal requirement that private lands separated by the work of a corporation must be "made

whole" can be traced back to Elizabethan England, when a statute was enacted that land divided by a

canal must be rejoined by a bridge built for the landowner, even if the bridge carried nothing more

than a path for human pedestrians or cows.[23] Such probably was the ancient legal rationale behind

the bridge constructed for Isaac Lane, and for the numerous "cattle passes" built beneath the tracks at

different places in Massachusetts as well as private grade crossings that a farmer might use to reach

his amputated lands.

The solid little overpass, known later to the New Haven Railroad as Bridge 26.45 (miles from

South Station), with its massive stone wing walls, bridged the track about two miles south of

Mansfield station. Probably because the civil engineer followed some pre-railroad right-of-way of

Lane's that ran at an obtuse diagonal to the railroad, the company went to the trouble of building him

222

a skew bridge at an angle of 82-1/2 degrees to the track instead of a simpler one at a right angle. The

plank roadway was 14 feet wide and 41 feet long. The original height of the granite abutments was

about 15 feet, but as trains grew larger and higher this was increased four feet by the stacking of

heavy timbers atop the masonry. Side-to-side clearance between abutments was 34 feet 8 inches at

the base and 36 feet at the 15-foot level; foresightedly they were built far enough apart to

accommodate two tracks, though only one was in use at the time. The four wing walls, angling at 13

to 24 degrees from the track, ranged in length from 25-1/2 to 43 feet. A short ramp at the east end of

the bridge descended to the present Old School Street opposite the newly moved Lane home.

This historic bridge, at first known as Lane's, later Skinner's after a more recent owner, was

demolished to make way for an industrial park in November and December 1973 just after I made

photographs, sketches, careful measurements and scale drawings of it.

The Mansfield historian wrote of a president or other high official of the Boston and Providence

being killed when his head, which he thrust out a car window when passing Lane's bridge, struck an

abutment. Superintendent James F. Curtis of the Boston and Worcester was killed in 1839 "by

putting his head from the car window near Boston"[24] in an accident that sounds suspiciously like

the purported Lane's bridge fatality. In later days more than one car-top-riding hobo had his skull

horribly smashed at Lane's or Skinner's when his head struck the bridge in the dark – such deaths are

usually recorded in the Mansfield town reports under some such words as "Unknown man, age 40,

killed on railroad."[25] But the Lane‟s bridge abutments are spaced too far from even the present

double track for a passenger's head to have struck the stonework even if he had extended himself.

* * *

On 28 April 1836, Emerson Briggs of Mansfield, he who had scoffed at the idea of cars running in

"iron ruts," sold to the "Boston & Providence Rail Road Corporation" for a goodly $795 (seemingly

far more than they were worth) two pieces of land in Mansfield containing two acres plus 20-4/10

rods, "Whereon said Company . . . established their Rail Road . . . . It being understood . . . that the

said Corporation shall erect . . . all necessary fences between the lands of the Grantor & the land

taken for said Rail Road And that the said Grantor . . . doth relinquish all damages for Land & earth

and gravel taken from about one acre & one quarter & twenty seven rods & twenty three yards of

Land of the Grantor for spoil banks & also all other damage done by the location & construction of

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said Rail Road." This sounds like another case of a landowner in Mansfield selling the right-of-way

to Boston and Providence after the road already had been built[26] and indicates that filling work

necessitating the purchase of a borrow pit was still going on somewhere along the line.

224

NOTES

1. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 411.

2. The trips of 6, 24 and 26 May are in Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 425.

3. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 426.

4. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 326; Boston Daily Globe 28 Apr. 1887, courtesy of R. Fleischer. The wrecked engine

may have been Dedham, which inexplicably was gone from the Boston & Providence roster before 1838, or possibly

Lowell. Records are unclear whether the majority of the injured were marines or seamen. They were on their way to

board the U. S. S. Boston, a 700-ton sloop-of-war launched in 1826. B&P president Woolsey (B&P pres. letter book

1836-38: p. 16, letter 1) refers to the victims as “sailors;” Dean in his poem says “marines for navy use created.” The

Connecticut Observer (21 Jan. 1837) calls them “U. S. seamen.”

5. Copeland 1931a; quoted in part in Copeland 1936-56: 72-3. Harlow (1946: 362) says there were no fatalities in

this wreck and Shaw (2001: 37) also reports no deaths, which if true suggests that Mansfield's poet laureate Elijah Dean

was guilty of poetic embellishment or had heard the story wrong.

6. B&P pres. letter book p. 5, W. W. Woolsey to R. Schuyler 19 Dec. 1836, from the Boston office.

7. R. Fisher 1976: 2.

8. According to an 1837 rule. The Eastern R. R. used white warning flags (Harlow 1946: 361). Under the present-

day rules a blue flag or light is displayed on equipment that must not be moved.

9. Communication between the engineman and conductor or trainmen aboard a moving train tended to be chancy.

On the Mohawk & Hudson R. R., "At the rear of the tender a high seat has been installed. The conductor sits on this,

facing the coaches, and advises the engine driver immediately when anything happens on the train."

Rule 18 on the well-run Stonington railroad reads:

The Conductor shall take up his position on the car nearest the engine, sitting with his back to the latter and

keeping his attention steadily directed back on the entire train. He is provided with a whistle, which he shall blow

whenever he wishes the train to halt. This is the sign that all brakes should be set. The Engineman shall respond to this

signal with the whistle that he carries with him.

The Boston & Worcester opted for another method. A cord was attached to the locomotive bell "running across all the

coaches to the conductor, so that if something should occur he can ring the bell and alert the engineer" (Gerstner 1842-

43/1997: 131, 338, 345). This system was not unlike the later communicating device whereby an air whistle in the

locomotive cab was actuated by a continuous cord running through the cars.

On North Carolina's Portsmouth & Roanoke R. R. a bell six inches in diameter was mounted, "and by means of it the

conductor notifies the engineer when the train should stop. For this purpose a bell is far better than a trumpet or whistle,

because when danger is approaching a conductor can easily lose his composure and be in no condition to blow such

instruments" (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 700-01).

225

The illustration in Beebe and Clegg 1952: 34, C. Fisher 1943-68 and Harlow 1948 after p. 274 shows two trainmen

seated atop the cars of an inbound B&P passenger train, facing forward so as to observe conditions ahead, without shelter

from the weather or sparks and smoke from the engine.

10. Harlow 1948: 108-9. One-eighth of a mile is 660 feet. By way of comparison, a modern 500-ton air-braked

diesel-powered commuter train running 15 m.p.h. requires 380 feet to stop, so an MBTA official informs me.

11. Thoreau (Journal 12 Apr. 1858) complains that the newspapers contained accounts "of every cow and calf that is

run over."

12. City Record, and Boston News-Letter 6 Jan. 1837; Connecticut Observer 21 Jan. 1837; Harlow (1946: 362).

Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 326, 327) says $25,000, which evidently is incorrect.

13. City Record, and Boston News-Letter 6 Jan. 1837; Connecticut Observer 21 Jan. 1837, p. 3; A. M. Levitt pers.

comm. 2005. Lemuel Shaw (1781-1861), father-in-law of Herman Melville, served as Mass. Chief Justice from 31 Aug.

1830 until his resignation 21 Aug. 1860. A severe-looking Cape Codder, criticized for being humorless and slow, his

“plodding mind” nevertheless was said to be a great one.

14. B&P pres. letter book p. 16, letter 1, W. W. Woolsey to J. F. Loring. The writer forgot to sign this letter, but it

almost certainly was Woolsey.

15. A. M. Levitt pers. Comm. 2005.

16. City Record, and Boston News-Letter 13 Feb. 1837.

17. A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005. The Canton halt had been contemplated earlier when W. W. Woolsey wrote from

the corporation‟s New York office to W. R. Lee on 28 Nov. 1836: “The Canton stop will be considered when I am in

Boston. I will delay saying anything further relative to the force in the road until then.” (B&P pres. letter book p. 1, letter

1.) Note the reference to Boston & Providence‟s New York office, an indication of the greater than mere regional thinking

on the part of the railroad‟s management! But why did Woolsey, as will be seen in subsequent letters to his operations

chief, spend so much time in New York? Was it because he regarded the New York-to-Providence steamboat operations

as more important or more in need of his presence than the railroad?

A. M. Levitt comments (pers. comm. 2005): “The relationship between the Rail Road and the Steamboat Train

company [sic] remains to be clarified, but it appears that the scheduling of the Steamboat Train from Boston to

Providence , and the stations at which it calls, seems to be within the realm of the Steamboat Company, although subject

to the approval of the Rail Road when it comes to (1) changes, and (2) when the changes can come into effect.”

18. B&P pres. letter book p. 18, letter 2, W. W. Woolsey to W. R. Lee 11 Jan. 1837. Good quality watches were then

available in Boston, whether of English manufacture, as were those loaned to train crews around 1850, or U. S. make I

do not know. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2005) comments on Woolsey‟s new method of timekeeping as

“Characteristically locking the barn after the horse ran away,” and adds, “From a risk management point of view, I am

not too sure that I can endorse this practice.”

19. Boston & Providence R. R. Rule 9, in R. Fisher 1974: 2-3. Italics in original. Whether "crossing" refers to

highway grade crossings or to the crossing with the Boston & Worcester R. R. on Roxbury Flats just outside the Boston

terminal I do not know.

20. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38: p. 5, W. W. Woolsey to R. Schuyler 19 Dec. 1836. Two incidents of trains striking

226

track equipment in the Boston suburbs have occurred in the first part of 2007, proving that after 170 years the problem

identified in 1837 has not been entirely resolved.

21. Copeland 1931a. Thoreau somewhere says that train passengers reminded him of boiled potatoes.

22. D. E. Loving, pres. Mansfield Hist. Soc., pers. comm. c1985. One of the original 1959 Mansfield assessors'

maps, Plate 10, shows the former road, with a corner 105 feet west of the railroad centerline. The rearranged alignment is

obvious on aerial photographs of the neighborhood.

23. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 815. The builders of modern interstate highways appear not to be bound by such a nice

requirement. Lane did well to get himself such a solid bridge. In England, where precedents involving railways'

accedence to landowners were so often established, the law required that the railway provide and maintain

"accommodation level crossings," which were private grade crossings connecting land in the same ownership that was

bisected by the railway; also "occupation level crossings," i.e., private grade crossings between a residence and a public

highway or between land and a residence under common ownership; and footpaths and bridleways used by the public (A.

M. Levitt, pers. comms. 2001). No such tradition was observed when the New Haven R. R., "to avert possible death or

injury," chose c.1955 to eradicate without notice to the users thereof several 120-year-old private grade crossings along

the Shore Line in West Mansfield, including a planked crossing on a mile-long truck road providing the sole access to

my 35-acre wood lot – the planks were ripped up and the roadway blocked with up-ended rails planted in the earth. Legal

protests to the railroad were ignored.

24. Copeland 1931e, who seems uncertain about whether this accident happened at Lane's bridge, and adds, "It is

true that several fatal accidents from the top of freight trains have occurred there." See also Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 352;

Harlow 1946: 366. My father told of these occasional accidents at Lane‟s.

25. Mansfield had no monopoly on killer bridges. Thoreau (Journal 10 Dec. 1856) writes at some length of "the

murderous Lincoln [Mass.] bridge, where at least ten men have been swept dead from the cars within as many years. . . .

We have another bridge of exactly the same character on the other side of the town, which has killed one, at least, to my

knowledge." He commented that "a little resolution in our legislature" would require these deadly bridges to be raised

four feet so that "all travelers might pass in safety," but no such law was then contemplated. Of course "travelers"

(hoboes) were not supposed to be riding the tops of cars, but low bridges were also a serious danger to brakemen, some

of whom were killed thereby. Lane's or Skinner's bridge even after being raised four feet was still a low bridge and

would noticeably deflect downwards when a fast train passed beneath it.

26. Holman 1931: 37-8. The fence requirement appears to contradict statements by Belcher (1938) and J. W.

Haines (pers. comm. 1948) that no fencing was erected along the Boston & Providence's right-of-way.

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14 – The "Great Seekonk Railroad Case"

To our modern-day senses, and with our clear-eyed hindsight and knowledge of a century and three

quarters of railway practices in the United States, the so-called Great Seekonk Railroad Case seems a

fantastic cloud-cuckooland dispute. But to those railroad officials and politicians who spent three

years enmeshed and struggling in its toils, like flies that had blundered into a spider web, it

amounted to the bewildered exploration of an unmapped and untracked (pun intended) new world.

The dispute, which still goes on in some parts of the globe, was over whether a railroad should be

structured under the principle of open access or exclusive franchise. That is, should anybody who

might go out and buy a train be entitled to operate it over a railway if he paid a fee or should that

right be restricted to the person or persons who laid and owned the track? The decision eventually

arrived at was to have far reaching consequences for the future of railroading in the United States.

Many important persons of the time favored public ownership of railways. "Roads," one such

prominent figure noted, "belong to the community, and the Rail Road, so far as public use is

designed by it, is a gift of the arts to the States." He concluded with the arguable opinion, "It is

among the few improvements that a State can most successfully manage."[1]

The turnpike mentality was hard to erase from the minds of public and politicians, and the early

charters for railroads were framed on the supposition that the lines would be used like toll highways,

meaning that by paying a fee, you or I or anyone might enter on them with our own locomotives and

cars.[2]

We first notice this approaching affair with a "Report on the petition of Tristam Burges and

others" submitted "To the honorable the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" on

28 March 1836 requesting permission to form the West Boston & East Providence Rail-Road

Company, signed by Timothy P. Ide, Tristam Burges and others. This signaled an effort by Burges to

be granted the right to operate cars and engines of his "railroad" over the rails of the Boston and

Providence.

On 16 April the General Court granted Burges[3] a charter under the new name of the Seekonk

Branch Railroad to build a track from Old Wharf Point on the east side of Providence Harbor in the

vicinity of the present Wilkes Barre pier northward through Rocky Point[4] to a junction with the

Boston and Providence on the other shore of the Seekonk River from India Point. It will be recalled

that not until 1862 did this section of Seekonk become part of the state of Rhode Island, therefore all

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the proposed track lay in Massachusetts. The charter provided that no stockholder in the Boston and

Providence Rail Road should ever own stock in the Seekonk Branch.

Burges's mini-railroad was to be only 2000 feet long; not even that much was ever completed, and

Burges never owned an engine or a car. Nevertheless, on 21 June of that year he organized the

Seekonk Branch Railroad Company.[5] In 1837 he proposed to erect a separate station in Boston,

and to use, by force of the law then in effect, the entire intermediate part of the Boston and

Providence for the operation of his own engines and cars, if and when he got them. For about three

years Burges and his company created great excitement among the railroad interests in Providence

and constituted a serious annoyance to the Boston and Providence.[6]

The ensuing court battle between Burges and his Seekonk Branch company and the Boston and

Providence Rail Road, which reached the level of the Massachusetts statehouse, reminds one of the

time-worn joke about the head of a minuscule shortline who informed the president of a major trunk

road that his railway, though it might be shorter, was just as wide, and therefore the two chief

executives should exchange passes good for free transportation on one another's lines.

But Burges was not one to be taken lightly. A great-granduncle of Rhode Island's famous long-

lived 20th century senator Theodore Francis Green, Burges, age 66, was a top-flight lawyer, a former

Rhode Island state legislator, ex-chief justice of the Rhode Island supreme court, five times United

States representative, unsuccessful candidate for governor of Rhode Island and (let us not overlook

this!) professor of oratory at his alma mater Brown University.[7] Thus when Professor Burges

spoke, it behooved all within earshot to listen.

At that time, Boston and Providence, the only railroad entering the Rhode Island state capital,

enjoyed a monopoly on rail travel and shipping to and from that city. They also had pretty well

cornered the New York passenger business; their trains met the Long Island Sound steamboats

President and Franklin of the New York and Boston Transportation Company, and Lexington and

Cleopatra of Cornelius Vanderbilt's rival firm also based in New York City.

These two steamship lines already had experienced difficulties at Providence. One day when

Lexington was about to tie up at the wharf her captain was ordered to veer off, as the New York and

Boston firm had leased the berth for their exclusive use. The company owning Lexington and

Cleopatra, to force the issue, through 1836 into 1837 tied up anyway wherever a slot was vacant. In

June 1837 the Rhode Island General Assembly ruled in their favor, declaring the wharf open for any

and all craft. This is exactly what Burges envisioned for railroads: that they should be wide open to

all, especially himself.

Burges's brainstorm with which he approached the New York and Boston company was that if

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they would buy half the shares of stock needed to build and equip his railroad and agree to forego

the main Providence wharf and tie up instead at a dock that he intended to build, he would meet their

vessels with "mixed" trains – that is, trains carrying both passengers and freight – and the boat loads

of persons and merchandise arriving from New York would be whisked over his little railroad and

thence to Boston over Boston and Providence rails in cars owned by the boat company and drawn by

his own locomotives. To the steamship company this sounded like a nifty idea, and they and Burges

reached at least a partial agreement.

As to the railroad aspects of his plan, the legal rationale (Burges felt) was that railroads, if viewed

according to the turnpike laws of Massachusetts, were like toll highways, and since the public were

entitled to pass over toll roads or turnpikes using their own wagons or stagecoaches as long as they

paid a fee, so too should anybody be entitled to run his own engines or trains over another's railroad

if he paid tolls. In addition, Burges had discovered a convenient loophole in the original Boston and

Providence charter: a clause that allowed any other railroad company not only to join a track to

theirs but to use their road upon payment of suitable compensation.

Actually, Burges was both behind and ahead of his time: The 1825 Stockton and Darlington

Railway in England was operated as a true public carrier ("open access" was the term used), meaning

that anyone's locomotive or train could be run on the Stockton's rails to carry whatever or whomever

that person or company wanted to move, after paying a toll.[8] But when the railways realized how

unsafe it could be to allow others to use their tracks and also recognized that more money was to be

made as a carrier than a renter, the practice of "open access" quickly screeched to a halt. Yet the

wheel has come full turn, and in Britain today the company that operates the trains is not necessarily

the company that owns and maintains the tracks. That these practices of open access, or divided

ownership of tracks and trains, recently under discussion in Washington in a wrong-headed attempt

to resolve Amtrak's losses, provably defies economic logic is beside the point of the 1837 discussion.

The fact that Boston and Providence for reasons previously enumerated was not very popular with

either the citizenry or the legislature of Massachusetts gave Burges hope that the people and their

elected representatives, seeing him as a white knight charging to their succor with leveled lance,

would flock gladly to his side as a way of putting the high-handed Boston and Providence in its

place.

Naturally, the management of that corporation, which had just expended two million dollars of

their shareholders' money to build their own railroad and considered it their private property, took a

dim view of the notion that anyone who owned an engine and some cars could make free with their

trackage as he pleased. Besides that, they didn't want an interloper like Burges, regardless of how

230

well thought-of a citizen he might be, muscling in on their lucrative New York trade and running his

boat trains over their track to boot; that would be adding insult to injury. Neither were the Boston

and Providence investors pleased at the thought that open access would take away part of their

existing railway business and haul it with someone else's engines. If most of the value went to the

customer and little remained for the railroad operator, why invest in railroads?[9]

In 1837 the board of directors of Boston and Providence agreed to a resolution that, "No other

locomotive engines shall be used on the road than those belonging to the corporation." They were

solidly supported in this decision by the Boston and Worcester and the Boston and Lowell Rail

Roads, which no doubt anticipated that soon they might be struggling to extricate themselves from

the same quicksands. But thinking of their Mansfield connection with Taunton Branch, Boston and

Providence did concede to the handling of cars of other railroads, as long as their own operations

were not compromised. This was a logical and forward-looking idea because until then the railroads

had jealously restricted their cars to their own rails, which was easy to do because most railroads did

not connect with other lines anyway. But it made sense for Boston and Providence to handle through

cars to or from the Taunton Branch or even the proposed Seekonk line without the waste motion of

transferring freight out the open door of one car into the door of another road's car standing on an

adjacent track. With this radical new decision the concept of interchangeable freight cars was born, a

happy idea still with us, enhanced now by the frequent interchangeability of diesel locomotives from

one road to another.

To Burges this was not nearly enough of a concession, and in January 1838, when he had spiked

down 1200 of his planned 2000 feet of track, he presented the Massachusetts General Court with a

petition that amounted to a litany of complaints. This petition and the accompanying oral arguments

from both sides were heard by the Senate-appointed Massachusetts Committee on Railways and

Canals, which was empowered by the legislature to decide the matter.

Boston and Providence (Burges told the senators) was "false to its trust and to the interest of the

State by terminating its road in Rhode Island; that they could have been better accommodated, at less

expense, on the Massachusetts side of the river." In other words, he preferred they had never crossed

the stream but had stopped at Seekonk, giving the Rhode Island capital the runaround. Furthermore,

he railed, the contract between Boston and Providence and the steamboat company "created a

monopoly on Long Island Sound" because the two corporations (acting logically, wouldn't you say?)

timed the arrivals and departures of the boats and certain of the trains, called by the railroad

“Steamboat Trains,” to coincide. Neither was it fair that the boat trains were allowed to run faster

than other passenger trains, as it gave them an advantage. Of course, if the Boston road would allow

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his boat trains (of which thus far he had none) to run on its rails, he might forgive all.

Burges's petition made much of the two-year dispute between the two competing New York

steamship lines as to which had the right to use the Providence wharves. Furthermore, he insisted

"That a Board of Commissioners be appointed by the Legislature, to license engineers, make all the

rules and regulations touching the use of the [Boston and] Providence, Seekonk and [Boston and]

Worcester roads, and to take the general supervision of the moving power on such roads." This, he

felt, "would not only relieve the Directors of a great responsibility" but would lift from the railroads

all accident compensation and other risks that attended the carriage of freight and passengers.

The Boston and Providence directors, who did not particularly want to be relieved of the control

of their "moving power," in their turn chose as a legal theory the idea that their charter gave the

corporation the right to use their track in their own best interests. They reminded the committee that

they had resolved that no engines other than their own should operate over their line; but to keep

everybody smiling they would be willing to haul the cars of other roads in their trains, insofar as this

proved consistent with their own operating practices.

Boston and Providence further argued that their charter permitted the corporation to "establish all

such by-laws, rules, regulations and ordinances as they may deem expedient and necessary to

accomplish the [charter's] designs and purposes . . . and for the well-ordering, regulating and

securing the interests and affairs of the corporation." Not only that, the charter specified that such

matters as the carrying of freight and passengers, design of cars and wheels, carload weights "and all

other things in relation to the use of said road, shall be in conformity to such rules, regulations and

provisions as the Directors, shall, from time to time, direct." Under these provisions of the charter

the railroad could keep the engines of other companies from operating on their trackage; or (no

doubt thinking of the Taunton Branch) if these other companies were allowed to use their tracks it

must be done in accordance to rules and regulations promulgated by the Boston and Providence

directors.

Having listened to arguments pro and con, the senate committee now put forth some thoughts of

their own. The business of combative rivalry between the steamboat operators was disposed of easily

as being irrelevant to the case. "There has always been a spirit of rivalry on the Sound," the

committee noted. "Competition there has assumed a wild and adventurous character," and this "wild

competition which induces the boats to chase each other, to be perpetually changing their hours of

sailing and their rates of fare, is not to be desired." But in fact the steamboats for two years had

successfully landed wherever a berth was empty, and the Rhode Island legislature had decreed that

the wharves were open to all. The committee reminded Burges that "The Providence Rail-road

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Corporation is not at all responsible for the conduct of the boats in Long Island Sound."

Siding at least in part with Boston and Providence's view of matters, the senate committee picked

apart Burges's flawed proposal for virtual state control of railroad operations through the medium of

a legislative board of commissioners. "[I]f this opinion be correct, the traveller on the road and the

people living near it will either be without their remedy in case of injury, or they will have a claim

upon the Commonwealth. . . . The Committee are satisfied beyond a doubt that no Board of

Commissioners can be so well qualified to regulate the policies of a road as the directors and

superintendents of the corporation."

When it came to the unexplored matter of one railroad operating its trains over the tracks of

another, the legislative committee began to toddle on tiptoes while they probed different aspects of

the question with tentative thrusts of their antennae. They gave a wide berth to all discussion of

Burges's notion that legally a railroad was a public highway on which any owner of a train could

operate if he paid tolls. Neither did they come flatly out, as we with our keen 21st century hindsight

might expect they would, in support of the opposing view, that a railroad's charter gave it exclusive

rights to its own trackage. Perhaps they thought that sounded too monopolistic--in those days

everyone seemed worried about monopolies. Instead, they pussyfooted around the basic question by

delving deep into the practicality and hazards of the trains of two railroads operating over a track

belonging to one of them.

"Without attempting to decide this legal question, we say it is inexpedient. It is highly dangerous

to the public to permit the Seekonk Company to put motive power upon the road." The committee

brought witnesses to prove that Burges's plan to run mixed trains was a bad idea. While passenger

trains averaged 20 miles per hour, freight cars in mixed trains, being "generally laden more heavily,"

were apt to break down at these speeds, necessitating an emergency stop. But "the momentum of a

heavy train is such that it cannot be checked suddenly."

Becoming overnight experts in a field in which no one in America was as yet an expert, the

senators noted that mixed trains made no economic sense. "The merchandize being heavier and a

dead weight, the wear and tear on the cars and the road would be so much greater" that double-

headed locomotives might be needed to move these heavy consists at passenger train speeds,

compared to "the usual rate of transporting merchandize," which was 10 to 12 miles per hour.

The committee worried that if Burges's trains were allowed on the Boston and Providence in

addition to that company's own trains the risk of accidents would increase not only in proportion to

the increase in traffic density, but because the locomotive engineers of the two roads, like the

competing steamboat skippers, would get carried away by a natural rivalry leading to their disregard

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of all speed restrictions. "With the best regulations in the world, and with the most vigilant police, a

spirit of opposition would grow up, especially where there is the express purpose of competition on

the same line of travel. From what we know of human nature, we are satisfied that that would be the

case."

To Burges's argument that the engineer, being the most likely to be killed or injured in a collision

or derailment, had every incentive to drive carefully, the committee said, "But the same experience

which teaches us that rivalry will make men dangerous, teaches us that conversing with danger

makes them hardy. If they do not become desperate and reckless, they become indifferent. The driver

of a stage coach, who has repeatedly run his team by that of his rival, will become almost insensible

of the danger of racing.

"Let two trains be put upon the Providence road, owned by the different companies, and they

would not be very solicitous to accommodate each other."

Burges felt that strict enforcement of schedules or timetables would put an effective kibosh on

racing, but the committee objected that even if "a fixed hour and minute be established for starting

from a given point," still each engineer would be possessed with wanting to "pass over the road in

the shortest time" and thereby beat out his rival. This unruly speeding would not be easy to detect,

as, "there would be no agent stationed at every turnout with his watch in his hand to note the precise

time in which every train would arrive or depart. The engineman might transgress with great degree

of impunity. If any charge was brought against one, he would throw it off on his rival, and it would

be difficult to decide between them."

The committee carefully considered expert but somewhat irrelevant testimony as to the stopping

distance of trains. Under the best conditions of dry rail, the engineers of two opposing approaching

trains running 20 miles per hour would have to "reverse their engines at the distance of eighty rods

[1/4 mile] from each other to prevent a collision. At twenty miles an hour, the train would go a mile

in three minutes; consequently, if the two trains should come in sight of each other at the distance of

eighty rods, they would have but forty-five seconds in which to stop their trains; so that if the

machinery should be at all out of repair, or if the engineman should be agitated from his sense of

danger, so as to delay action for a few seconds only, a collision would be inevitable.

"It is not in the nature of things that every engineman would, in such an emergency, be so

perfectly calm as to reverse his engine the very instant he discovered the danger. It would be nothing

strange if the engineer's agitation should hold him in suspense for three-fourths of a minute, and this,

at a speed of twenty miles an hour, would carry him over the whole space of eighty rods. It would

not be safe to allow engines to approach each other at the speed of twenty miles, the usual rate for

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passengers, unless they could see each other at a much greater distance than a quarter of a mile. All

that space would be required, if the machinery was in perfect order and both of the enginemen

improved the very first instant the approaching train met their eyes."

Long experience has shown us of the 21st century that engineers are very quick to close the

throttle and reach out for the brake lever when they sight an emergency. But (the committee

maundered) throttles sometimes stuck open, the rails could be covered with rain, snow or ice

(engines in those days were not equipped with rail-sanders), and, as had been demonstrated in the

Roxbury head-ender, Boston and Providence had several curves "where enginemen could not see

each other at the requisite distance to avoid a concussion." To be sure, the rules required them to run

slowly around curves, but "enginemen do not always obey their instructions." Not only might there

be head-on collisions, but accidents caused by one train overtaking another. "Men in walking the

streets may run against each other, and nothing like danger would arise from such contact. But with

locomotives at full speed, the case is entirely different."

Burges had the bad judgment to produce seven witnesses, apparently all locomotive engineers,

who claimed that two companies could safely run trains on one track. After a cross-examination,

however, they were quickly shot down in flames by the committee as "men of little experience, and

four of them had been dismissed by the [Boston and] Providence and [Boston and] Worcester

companies for insubordination and carelessness, and one of them avowed his hostility to the

Providence corporation. Two of them had collisions themselves on the road. One ran into an engine

in broad daylight, on a level, straight part of the road; the other, with an empty or nearly empty train,

ran into a train that had stopped, though he saw it at the distance of eighty rods."

Whether these wreck-happy engine-jockeys were fond of the sauce, "agitated from [their] sense of

danger" or merely recklessly incompetent, they did Burges and his case no good.

As for Burges himself, he was, the monopoly-phobic committee complained, proposing "one of

the most perfect monopolies."

The Senate Committee on Railways and Canals having concluded its hearing, they now had to

come face to face with making a decision that, as it turned out, was to reach far into the future, from

the Atlantic to the Pacific: Is a railroad a private entity, or is it a public way like a toll road or a barge

canal, usable by anyone who pays the fees set by the owner? Does the principle of exclusive

franchise govern, or that of open access? Such a ruling had never been entertained before; in this

infancy of United States railroading there was no legal or other precedent to follow.

The decision reached in the committee's final report favored by a narrow majority the Boston and

Providence and the principle of the interchangeability of cars but not of motive power. And they

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knocked Burges, his 1200-foot railroad and his plans on their beam ends. The committee ruled that

the Seekonk Branch was "no railroad in the common acceptation of the term," especially since it ran

only as far as the misnamed Rocky Point, "a narrow sand bluff where there was no business and

where no mortal dwelt." Referring to the state law requiring submission of a plan and profile of any

proposed railroad on a scale of a quarter mile to the inch, the senators, relaxing into italicized levity

after their exhausting deliberations, remarked, "Apply this to the Seekonk road, and it would require

a plan and profile of an inch in length."

Burges's petition was denied. The legislature, leaning over backward to insure that Boston and

Providence would do what they already had said they would do, passed an act requiring that road to

haul Seekonk cars in their trains. But the Seekonk road would be required to submit to the use of

Boston and Providence engines and (presumably) engine crews, and to their traffic regulations and

would have to pay charges. Burges was not denied the authority to run his own trains and motive

power over his own mini-railroad, but neither was he granted the right to run his engines, provided

he ever had any, through the connecting switch onto Boston and Providence trackage.

On 9 August 1839 the Seekonk Branch Railroad Company rendered the question moot by deeding

their track, buildings and whatever cars they had, plus all claims and privileges, to the Boston and

Providence Rail Road Corporation for $31,955.70. Boston and Providence used the 1200 feet of

track formerly belonging to the intruder for a spur; much later, a few hundred feet of Burges‟s line were used as a roadbed by the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad.[10] Soon the General Court

passed a law forbidding one railroad corporation to enter with its locomotives upon the rails of

another, unless by consent.[11]

The Great Seekonk Railroad Case was ended, and the right decisions had been made. It is now

impossible to conceive of North American railroads operating without being able or permitted to

interchange cars. And experience in the United Kingdom and elsewhere has substantially proven

that open access leads to dwindling traffic and to diminution of the value of the railroad by its being

transferred from the railroad operator to the customer, which drives away those with money who

want to invest in railways.[12]

The decision of the Massachusetts General Court to guarantee private rights-of-way meant that

investors who risked their cash were repaid by gaining almost complete control of regional

transportation; passengers and shippers who accepted the monopoly gained the ability to travel on

business or to sell goods over a much enlarged area; and the public which granted the franchise

gained economic, political and social benefits. In short, whether the distinguished Tristam Burgess

liked it or not, everyone came out ahead.[13]

236

NOTES

1. Harlow 1946: 52.

2. Appleton 1871: 2; Copeland 1930a. Civilian airports provide a modern example of taxpayer-subsidized open

access – anyone, either individual or corporation, with a plane may land as long as safety and traffic regulations are

observed.

3. Burges's name is associated in Thompson (1942) with two other documents, neither of which relates to the so-

called West Boston & East Providence. Ide has no other mention in Thompson. Most of my information about the

Seekonk Railroad Case derives from Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 330; Bayles 1891; Harlow 1948: 104-10; and A. M. Levitt

pers. comms. 1999. Appleton (1871: 2) states that "For about three years, the operations of these parties [i. e., Burges and

others] were a serious annoyance to The Boston and Providence Railroad Company."

4. I cannot find the name Rocky Point on maps dating back over 100 years. It may have been an earlier name for

Bold Point. It should not be confused with the well-known Rocky Point on the west shore of Narragansett Bay in

Warwick. Bayles (1891) identifies Old Wharf Point as being “about where the Marine railroad now stands.” 5. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6; A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2003.

6. Appleton 1871: 2; Copeland 1930a.

7. Burges was born in Rochester, Mass., 26 Feb. 1770. After completing his public school education he studied

medicine in a school at Wrentham, Mass., but gave that up when his father died. He was graduated from Rhode Island

College (now Brown University) in 1796, studied law with Judge David Leonard Barnes and was admitted to the bar in

1799, after which he commenced law practice in Providence and rose to the top of his profession. He was elected in

1811 to the R. I. house of representatives, where he was prominent as a member of the Federal party. In May 1815 he

was appointed chief justice of the R. I. supreme court, but in 1816 was an unsuccessful candidate for election in same.

He was elected as representative-at-large from R. I. to the 19th through the 21st U. S. congresses and then as an Anti-

Jacksonian to the 23rd and 24th congresses, 4 Mar. 1825 to 3 Mar. 1835. He was chairman of the Committee on

Revolutionary Pensions in the 19th congress and served on three other committees in the 19th to 23rd congresses. After a

failed attempt to gain reelection, and unsuccessfully running in 1836 as a Whig candidate for governor of R. I., he

resumed his private law practice. From 1815 to 1828 he was professor of oratory and belles-lettres at Brown. He

published orations, speeches and (1839) a book on the Battle of Lake Erie. Burges died on his estate Watchemoket Farm,

now part of East Providence, 13 Oct. 1853 (Bowen 1839; Appleton's Encyc. 2001).

8. Kay 1974: 17. A somewhat similar public-private partnership was arrived at in the early 19th century in France,

where the government provided the tracks and structures and private companies ran the trains.

9. Posner 2001: 45.

10. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 330; Bayles 1891; NHRAA 1940-52; Harlow 1948: 110; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 7; A.

M. Levitt pers. comm. 1999. A fold-out map in C. Jackson 1840 clearly shows the Seekonk branch and its connection to

the Boston & Providence east of Seekonk River.

11. Copeland 1930a.

12. Posner (2001: 42-45), though he says nothing about 19th century railroads, provides an excellent assessment of

open access versus exclusive franchise in the present time.

13. Paraphrasing editor Mark W. Hemphill, Trains, Jan. 2003: 4.

237

MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD,

AND CONNECTING LINES

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Part Three

Harry B. Chase, Jr., 2006

___________________

238

15 – The Panic of 1837

Getting back, after this far-out legal and political digression, to 1836, in May of that year

construction began on a genuine new railroad that promised to provide travelers and shippers better

and faster service between New York and Boston than they already enjoyed. The Long-Island

Railroad, which had been chartered by the state of New York on 24 April 1834 and its books opened

for "filling up the stock" in December, was to run the length of that fish-shaped island (as its native

poet Walt Whitman aptly described it) to a wharf at Greenport across the Sound from Stonington.

Steamboats would make the 18-mile connection between the Long Island terminus and the New-

York, Providence and Boston Rail Road[1] then under construction by Major William Gibbs

McNeill, chief engineer, between Stonington and Providence. The builders of the Long-Island road

were sensibly making their track compatible (for example, the same size and type of rails) with that

of the Stonington and the Boston and Providence roads.

This largely overland arrangement, if it worked, would pose a serious threat to the Long Island

Sound steamboats in that it would bypass a large part of their voyage, and in addition offer safe all-

season transport. One of the disadvantages of the existing boat service was that Providence was no

great shakes as a port, nor would it become important in that regard until well after the mid-1800s;

in fact, before that time Newport was the chief port in Rhode Island. The ship channel leading to the

upper bay at Providence was too shallow and otherwise unsatisfactory,[2] and the harbor in severe

winters like that of 1835-36 was choked by ice. But when the Long-Island and the Stonington

railroads were completed, Providence as a port would be dropped out of the circuit and the 20-hour

travel time between New York and Boston would be reduced to 12 hours, [3] "so that the aggregate

trip may easily be performed by daylight during a large portion of the year"[4] with the probability

of sounding the death knell of the steamers.

As of yet, however, Providence-New York traffic was insufficient even to require a steamer to run

every day. Boston and Providence president William Woolsey, writing from the his New York

office, advised his superintendent W. Raymond Lee that to avoid wasting fuel on days when the

boats were not running, locomotives assigned to the boat train were not to be fired up until the

steamer had been sighted by lookouts in the Providence signal house[5] atop the Tockwotten Hotel.

Thus if the boat did not run, neither did the train. But obviously what was badly needed was some

form of communication between the steamship office in New York and the railroad operating forces

in Providence and Boston. That would come, eventually, with the telegraph.

239

* * *

A disadvantage of the imported English locomotives as far as American use was concerned was

that even the best of them came with no spark arresters, which were necessary when wood was

burned for fuel[6] to keep trackside fields, barns, haystacks and fences and, on embarrassing

occasions, even the train itself from catching fire. Presumably spark screens were applied by Boston

and Providence shop men, but it is obvious that they were not always successful in preventing fires.

A mishap commonly wrought on the pastoral countryside by the railroad then and for more than

the next 100 years and which caused farmers particularly to dislike the trains was described by

Isaac Stearns on 29 October 1836: “Rail Road engine set woods on fire and burnt from R. Road to

Jesse Atherton's.”[7] This was a sizable piece of northern East Mansfield, which could have been

torched only by a Boston and Providence locomotive equipped with a faulty spark screen.

This sort of conflagration and others like it, including an instance of self-immolation, was

guaranteed to set off poetaster Elijah Dean, inspiring in turn a biblical reference from Jennie

Copeland: “Next he tells of damage done by this horrible atrocity which he calls the d---l. Like

Samson's foxes[8] of the Bible the engine acts as a fire-brand, setting fire to Attleborough woods

and houses, and even to its own cars.”

Once on this road a baggage car

As they went in a hurry,

By accident was set on fire,

Somewhere in Attleborough.

A fiery comet it was like,

With a long tail blazing;

If it had happened in the dark

The sight would been amazing.

Two awful fires near Tobit's house,

Which burnt with flames infernal;

The engineer in such a case,

Must suffer death eternal.

The woods resound with hideous yell,

When furiously burning;

240

'Twas set on fire by railroad h--l,

From Boston when returning.

The corporation paid Tobit

For land to make the road on

And most of it was hardly fit,

To keep a skunk or toad on.

The cars, when passing, set on fire

Some grass that stood in Mansfield.

I think the owner will require

To have the damage cancelled.

This field of grass being high and dry,

Would have all been burnt to ashes

But Quincy Grover being nigh,

He thrashed it out with bushes.

Here h--l-fire its best forces tried

To spread great desolation;

The ravages spread far and wide,

In a great conflagration.

Some thought the length was near a mile,

The width near half that distance;

The neighbors all with tiresome toil,

Did make back-fire resistance.[9]

As for Isaac Stearns, it may be that he had gotten blase about the railroad, but in his diary for

1836 he made only two brief notes regarding the Boston and Providence. One concerned the fire.

The other is dated 10 November, when Stearns wrote simply, “To Providence in cars to Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Convention.”[10]

* * *

241

For Boston and Providence, the year 1836 was a profitable one. Indeed, president Woolsey in a

letter to superintendent Lee commented, “Income from 1 July to 31 December very large. May not be exceeded for some time.” Mindful, however, that shareholders in the corporation regularly received two dividends annually of four percent each, amounting to $132,000 for 1836, Woolsey

advised in the same communication that “To enable 4% semi-annual payment, expenditures will

have to be kept down.”[11] Revenues in 1836 came to $243,966 and expenses only $107,513, for a

net profit of $136,453. Thus their rate of income to costs was 100 to 44.1.[12]

At about this same time, however, Woolsey reported to director John F. Loring that the “money market [is] deranged, and is now as tight as in previous time,”[13] an early warning that financial

matters were not expected to remain favorable.

Feeling, at any rate, reasonably well heeled, the corporation in 1836 or early 1837 bought five

new engines, all built in the United States, committing itself pretty solidly to the concept of the

swiveling four-wheeled leading truck which tracked so well on curves and switches. It was to be

1872 before the company purchased a greater number of locomotives in a single year.

Three of these machines came from a builder Boston and Providence hadn't tried before, but who

was destined to become a leader in the field. That was Matthias William Baldwin,[14] a former

jeweler, of Philadelphia, who built locomotives with jewel-like precision. His engines, apparently

known simply as Baldwin No. 1, Baldwin No. 2 and Baldwin No. 3, were of the 4-2-0 or "Bicycle"

wheel arrangement with one pair of 54-inch drive wheels set back of the firebox, and 11 by 16-inch

cylinders. They weighed nine tons and developed 30 horsepower.[15]

Baldwin's construction numbers for these locomotives were 30, 34 and 39, respectively.[16] As

part of the trend toward making life more comfortable for the crews, the Baldwin engines are said

to have been delivered with small cabs;[17] if this report is not incorrect, the cabs must have been

removed or at least not repeated on further locomotive orders, because it was to be well into the

1840s before the Boston and Providence management permitted their enginemen the unheard-of

luxury of shelters. In appearance these machines very likely resembled other oft-pictured Baldwins

of the time.

Matthias Baldwin could not claim to have originated the four-wheel truck; Boston and

Providence already had a 4-2-0 built the year before by Norris's American Steam Carriage works

and my assumption is that they liked the model. Baldwin had copied his 4-2-0 type from a 2-2-0

Planet that John Bloomfield Jervis, master mechanic of the Mohawk and Hudson, had rebuilt with a

four-wheel truck and renamed Experiment.[18] The experiment was a good one, and Baldwin stuck

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with the design for several years.

Baldwin also liked the rearward position of his drive wheels, which he claimed provided a better

distribution of weight and lightened the axle loading. But until 1850 he continued to build engines

with the inadequate Bury “haystack” firebox similar to the one on the English engine Boston.

Another defect that had soured the Boston and Providence mechanics and enginemen on their

three English-built locomotives was that they leaked steam, which besides being a wasteful loss of

efficiency could obscure the crew's forward view when the engine was in motion. Stephenson, Bury

and Forrester packed the joints of the steam pipes leading to the cylinders with canvas coated with

red lead. The canvas would rot, and at a standard pressure as low as 60 pounds per square inch live

steam was liable to spew forth, requiring the engine to spend sick time at Roxbury shop.

That the Baldwins were not perfect is demonstrated by a letter written 30 January 1837 by

Boston and Providence president Woolsey giving details of a broken wheel on “the new Baldwin engine.”[19] One anonymous source, however, lists all three Baldwins still in service in 1840.

Forrester's engine New York of the year before became the last machine the Boston and

Providence would buy from England.[20] The Baldwin engines were immediately popular with

those who both serviced and ran them, and not just because they came with cabs. The steam joints

turned out by the ex-jeweler Baldwin fit tightly, being of metal carefully ground under a patented

process, with the result that pressures of twice the customary 60 pounds per square inch could be

carried.[21]

Yet it is odd that despite their popularity these three were the only engines that Matthias Baldwin,

whose firm was to become one of the best known and most productive steam locomotive works in

the United States, ever sold to Boston and Providence in the railroad's lifetime.

Continuing to experiment with builders, the railroad purchased two engines from E. A. G. Young,

superintendent from about 1831 to 1838 of the New Castle Manufacturing Company in Delaware

(not to be confused with the Stephenson plant in Newcastle upon Tyne, England). Young's small

shop, which turned out locomotives from around 1831 to 1857 or '58, was situated in the town of

New Castle, on the Delaware River five miles southwest of Wilmington.

Like the Baldwins, Young's two machines weighed nine tons, developed 30 horsepower and were

given unimaginative names: Young No. 1 and Young No. 2. Both were 4-2-0s with 60-inch drive

wheels and the usual 11 by 16-inch cylinders.[22] They probably were equipped with the improved

poppet throttle valve, developed and patented by Young about 1833.[23]

The three Baldwins and both Young engines were on the Boston and Providence roster in 1839,

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but how long they survived afterward and their ultimate disposition are unknown.

Thus Boston and Providence at the end of 1836 or by early 1837 appears to have rostered the

following locomotives: Massachusetts (ex-Whistler), Lincoln, Boston, New York, Lowell,

Providence, Canton, Dedham (if not totaled in the Roxbury head-ender), Philadelphia, Baldwin 1, 2

and 3, and Young 1 and 2, a total of 13 or 14 locomotives. By this time the road had enough motive

power to carry them (with the exception of two more engines bought in 1837 and another in 1839)

through the upcoming recession until their next flurry of engine-buying in 1846-49.

Boston and Providence, at the beginning of its first full year of operation, had signed a 12-month

agreement with the post office to deliver the United States mail arriving at Providence aboard the

steamboat from New York, and also the morning mail originating in Providence and the morning

mail from Boston to Providence. (It appears that the railroad did not handle local mails.) The post

office evidently had some qualms about the ability of the trains to fulfill this service, and it was

written into the agreement that the mails must be carried even if by horsepower. The railroad, on the

other hand, refused to tote the mail for less than a guaranteed one hundred dollars. An interim

agreement seems to have been struck by the railroad and the post office for reimbursement in the

event that extremes of weather kept the trains from running and the post had to be transported by

local carriers.[24]

Railroad president Woolsey, in a letter written 22 December 1836 to superintendent W. Raymond

Lee, commented:

Our agreement with the P[ost] office expires 31st December; until then we are bound to deliver

Steam Boat mail, and the Providence morning & Boston morning (to Prov.) even if we send by horse

power.

After that date we are under no obligation to carry either [the steamboat or the Boston or

Providence mails], but unwilling to break up the communication and disappoint the public, I have

arranged with Genl Mallett (Post Master Providence) that we will carry the mails as at present

whenever our cars go.

We will in no event undertake to send mail by any other mode; this is a temporary arrangement

and is made to enable him to state the subject to the department. I have given a Free Ticket to Genl.

Mallett, Post Master, Providence.[25]

Two days later Woolsey alerted director John F. Loring of some gold smuggling in which the

railroad had played an unwitting part. Boston and Providence allowed passengers to carry their

personal luggage aboard the cars at no extra cost, but if it were so heavy as to require being stowed

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in the baggage car, it was classified as “excess luggage” and carried at a lower payment than the

rate charged for freight. As early as 1836 two men named Dean and Davenport were using Taunton

Branch and Boston and Providence passenger trains for carrying small packages and mail between

Taunton and Boston, and almost from the beginning two brothers named Earle had acquired a

similar contract with Boston and Providence. This was quite acceptable; but passengers traveling

with trunks containing large amounts of undeclared gold or silver contravened the railroad‟s regulations that such shipments should be treated as freight. On this subject, Woolsey wrote Loring:

Please let Mr. Lee have the following: Mr. Comstock or Mr. Lee mentioned that a person went over

the road with a very heavy trunk last week and had a bag marked John Ward & Co.

I learn that there was a large amount of gold in the trunk and that it belonged to Merchants Bank

of Boston, perhaps 60/m to 70/m dolls. [$60,000-$70,000]. It appears unworthy of a bank to smuggle

an article over the road when others are paying freight.

I mention this that the Master of Transportation may be on the watch and not let this specie go as

baggage.[26]

Besides inadvertent gold smuggling and setting fires, Boston and Providence had made itself felt

in several unanticipated ways in the towns through which it passed. Isaac Stearns complained that at

a Mansfield town meeting held 3 April 1837 to elect selectmen, the local anti-slavery party lost

because, “All those who are employed by the railroad company and all those engaged in the coal mining business who were admitted to vote, voted on the anti-abolition side.”[27] Which means

that even then Mansfield harbored a lot of resident railroad men and a lot who favored slavery.

Nevertheless, Stearns continued to make use of the road. On 10 April he recorded in his diary,

“A. M. to Foxboro Depot. B'ot 14 lbs of flour, 75 cents.”[28] This was the station actually in East

Foxborough, but before the Foxborough Branch Railroad was built it was known simply as

Foxboro, with or without the unnecessary terminal “ugh” of which our town-naming English

forebears were so fond. Apparently a store was kept in the depot, as was the case with the James

Greene station and general store in Mansfield.

Lest we forget that handy adjunct the Taunton Branch, Isaac Stearns wrote two days later on 12

April, "Went to Fall River. By cars to Taunton, then by wagon."[29]

On 16 May, during a particularly wet and rainy month that caused brooks to run high and

featured an unusual amount of lightning and thunder, Stearns acknowledges in abbreviated form the

prefix "East" by writing in his diary, “To E. Foxboro depot, etc.” And on 9 June: “To Providence in cars, to Pawtucket in stage, and home on foot.”[30]

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* * *

The financial Panic of 1837, kicking off a general depression that dragged along in greater or

lesser severity until the Civil War, impacted all business. The year 1835, in which the Boston and

Providence Rail Road commenced operations over its entire route, had been a good one. The United

States public debt was extinguished, or just about, having shrunk to the ridiculously low figure of

$37,513.05, and 1836 got under way with several million dollars of surplus revenue in the federal

treasury. But good times breed complacency and wastefulness, and federal surpluses, as we know,

have a way of evaporating. Andrew Jackson, not the last president of middling capacity to be

elected for his past glamor, in 1836 vetoed the renewal of the charter of the Second Bank of the

United States, then the repository of government funds, with the result that public money was

transferred to a large number of state banks.

These institutions, with their increased facilities for lending and under the erratic control of the

state governments, began to carry on like proverbial drunken sailors, flinging prudent business

methods to the winds and encouraging wild speculation in what were then called “internal improvements” (“infrastructure,” to us moderns) – canals, railroads, turnpikes and government

lands; while excessive loans for badly conceived and worse managed projects resulted in the banks

contracting large debts. Compulsive buying, flooding of the country with paper money issued by

banks, much of which was backed by nothing of value and ultimately proved worthless, and the

springing up of “wild-cat banks” founded by anyone with enough pocket change to rent himself a building and put up a sign, further characterized this brief period of national euphoria.

The coup-de-grace was delivered by Jackson's July 1836 Species Circular which decreed that

federal lands would be sold only for gold or silver coin, not banknotes. When the public besieged

the banks to swap their paper notes for metal money, those institutions toppled like trees in a

hurricane. This state of affairs, typical of the cyclical nature of capitalist economies, could not

continue; the crash occurred as Jackson was leaving office, and in spring of 1837 the next president,

Van Buren, had dumped in his lap, and got blamed for it by the public, the worst collapse the United

States had ever seen, featured by compulsive selling, banks suspending specie payments, factories

closing, property values declining, states repudiating their obligations, and failures on the then

unheard-of scale of hundreds of millions of dollars. Money was not to be had and universal distrust

prevailed. The price of cotton fell, and in New England 6000 textile looms lay idle while ships

empty of cargo were collecting barnacles on their hulls while tied up at the Boston docks.

After the immediate crisis of 1837 prices rose rapidly but wages did not, so that for railroad and

other workers the next six or seven years were marked by continued deprivation and depression,

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and ten years passed before the country recovered from the cost of the severe liquidation resulting

from Jackson‟s monetary policies. It should be added that tough little Rhode Island for some reason escaped the most serious effects of this and subsequent depressions.

The Panic of 1837 reflects in the purchasing records of the Boston and Providence; after that year

and until 1845 they bought only one locomotive.

Another victim of the Panic was the fledgling Long-Island Rail Road, the optimistically-hoped-

for mostly-overland connection with Boston and Providence, construction of which had proven

much more expensive than anticipated. In 1837 work stalled in the boondocks at Hicksville after

only 15.34 miles of road had been built[31] and was not resumed for two years.

* * *

It is obvious that Boston and Providence management decided to tighten up their operations

before another wreck befell them, and in 1837, anticipating to a remarkable degree the future book

of rules that now governs all railroad operations, the following regulations were put into effect:

1. The conductor has sole charge of the train; he will direct the engineman when to STOP and

when to START.

2. The conductor will report immediately on arrival at the depots any disobedience of orders, on

the part of the enginemen.

3. Conductors of morning trains – which leave Boston and Providence at the same hour – will pass

each other at the Foxborough turn-out; the train first arriving will take the turn-out, if both trains

arrive at the same time the train from Boston will take the turn-out.

4. The Steam Boat train from Boston will proceed without other than stops necessary to discharge

and receive passengers at Dedham Branch, Canton, Mansfield and Attleboro. The conductor of this

train will, if the Steam Boat train from Providence have [sic] not arrived before his departure,

proceed with great caution, sounding his bell at short intervals while passing around curves.

5. The Steam Boat train from Providence will proceed with the greatest care. The conductor will

keep a good look-out sending one of his Brakemen ahead to look round curves, if he have any doubt

with respect to the vicinity of a train which may be expected approaching him. The conductor of this

train is positively ordered not to leave a turn-out, if he have any reasonable expectation of meeting

another train before he can reach the next turn-out, he will detain the train on a turn-out, rather than

run any risk whatever – he will keep constantly in his mind that the position of his train on the road

is not known to conductors and enginemen of trains approaching him.

6. Trains will at all times move round curves slowly and with a good look-out; the engine bell will

be rung at intervals of time, until the engine has passed from the curve on to the straight line.

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7. The engine bell will be rung when a train is within eighty rods of a Crossing (which it will

approach slowly) and will continue to be rung until the train occupies the Crossing.

8. Conductors will daily compare their time with the time at the Depots.

9. Trips will be made in not less than two and a half hours.

10. Conductors will, when the train arrives at Seekonk, going to Providence, look out for a blue

flag on the Tockwotten Hotel; and if one is displayed, the train will take the Seekonk turn-out and

remain there until the flag is lowered; and also the signal on the Wood [fuel] House at India Point; if

the black board be across the staff, STOP, as the draw of the bridge is open.

11. The road crossings at Guy Carleton's in Roxbury, at the Toll-Gate, and near Mr. Lowell's will be

passed particularly slow.

12. Netting over smoke-pipes will always be fastened down, when an engine is running over the

road.

13. Rule at Worcester Railroad Crossing – When a Worcester train is coming in, the Providence

train will stop; at all other times, the Providence train goes ahead. Always ring the bell in foggy

weather or at night, when within 100 rods of this crossing.

14. If, on the arrival of a train at a turn-out, where a meeting with another train is usual, and the

expected train has not arrived, the conductor, after remaining on the turn-out fifteen minutes, will

send a Brakeman forward with orders to proceed as rapidly as possible; he will carry in his hand the

signal of a Brakeman viz; a blue flag. If, in fifteen minutes after the Brakeman has started, the

expected train shall not have arrived, nor the Brakeman returned, the conductor will proceed with his

train, moving with due care and prudence.

A train which may be detained on the road from any cause, more than thirty minutes, before

arriving at the turn-out, where a meeting is usual and expected, and is afterwards able to proceed,

will do so with Great Care. The conductor of this train will recollect the rule which requires the

conductor of the train expecting to meet him at any particular turn-out to wait Thirty Minutes, and

then proceed, his calculations will be made accordingly. The conductor of a train thus delayed, will

never pass his train round a curve without sending a Brakeman ahead, who will take a station at the

extreme end of the curve, holding conspicuously a blue flag.[32]

Frightening, eh? Here we have trains groping their way over the road like blind men moving

along a narrow hallway, depending on “expectations” for their safety!

These printed directions, which may have superseded in modified form earlier rules in effect

since 1835, were posted in a broadside or handed out in the form of a single sheet to employes who

were affected, and were entitled “Rules and Regulations of the Boston & Providence Rail Road

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Corporation . . . adopted by the Directors, August 14, 1837.”[33] They inspire several additional

comments:

Rules 1 and 2, in which the lordly and much admired engineer was placed firmly in a role

subordinate to the conductor, whose post corresponded somewhat to that of the captain of a ship,

suggest that there had been some rebellion involving who was in charge of the train! These two

rules set the matter straight for all time.

According to Rule 3, Foxborough, later called East Foxboro, was considered the halfway point. A

current rulebook would say “meet” instead of “pass” – opposing trains meet; a train overtaking

another headed in the same direction may pass. It is clear from this rule that northbound trains were

considered (to use 20th century vernacular) to have “right by direction,” being entitled to hold the main track while the southbound train took the siding, giving preference to Boston-bound traffic

over that outbound into the country or to Providence.

Rules 4, 5, 6 and 7 show the crying need of some kind of communications and signal system,

although Rule 10 contains the embryo of such. Extra caution was required of the northbound

“Steamboat Train‟s” engineer because due to the uncertain arrival time of the boat from New York

his train was likely to be running unpredictably late. One can better appreciate after reading Rules 5

and 6 the rationale behind the straight-line craze that possessed the builders of the Boston and

Providence! But was the engineer of an opposing train expected to hear the boat train's bell above

the noise of his own train? There is nothing about engine whistles being blown at curves and

crossings, which leads once again to the assumption that the early Boston and Providence

locomotives did not have whistles.[34] Note that stops at Sharon and at Foxborough with its

important "turn-out" were omitted by the boat train from Boston.

The time restriction provided by Rule 9 means that for 42 miles the speed averaged 16.8 miles

per hour, which considering the station stops, some of which were lengthened by the engine having

to refill its tender with water, and slowdowns for curves was a fairly respectable rate.

Rule 13 refers to the previously adverted-to diamond crossing with the Boston and Worcester

Railroad on the Roxbury Flats just outside Pleasant Street terminal in Boston.

These 1837 rules were much enlarged by 1839.[35]

Despite such regulations, with their admonitions to use “Great Care,” Boston and Providence in 1837 had another accident, this time perhaps unpreventable: a derailment involving their first

passenger fatalities. It appears to have been a mixed train of sorts that ran off the iron, because a

249

carload of lumber “on the top of which were a number of passengers, two of whom, Dennis Condor

and William Kervin, Irishmen, were killed,” was ditched.[36]

Elijah Dean continued to get poetically wrought up on the subject of accidents, this time about

livestock killed and vehicles demolished. Jennie Copeland adjusts to his mood by noting, “The figure changes. The train becomes a butcher, killing calves, cows, even men. Sherman and Grover,

both men living near the [railroad] line in West Mansfield, were among the losers.”

Next, Ambler's cow swept off the stage,

The cars did run her over.

“This happened in West Mansfield, but a similar accident occurred beyond Sharon Heights:”

A cow here got upon the road,

The pasture she deserted

And there remained until

Her life and body parted.

Somewhere in Dedham, as I'm told,

Or somewhere near its margin

Two oxen into death were sold

By an exparte bargain.

The engineer the bargain made,

The cars the executor;

This is what I call the butcher's trade,

And learnt without a tutor.

“Perhaps the cows and oxen couldn't look out for themselves, but it would seem as if the accidents to men were somewhat needless. There were no New York expresses going through town

with lightning rapidity, yet trouble there was:”

Once Hiram Grover took this road,

Because he thought 'twas better;

And had his wagon and his load

Inverted in the gutter.

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Now Jacob Bailey's case comes on,

He's had his share of losses,

When the steam-cars against him run,

And tore his cart to pieces.

The thing that fractured Jacob's cart,

Is sometimes called a cow-catcher;

To watch the road he took a part,

In Co. with Peter Thatcher.

The cause why this mishap took place,

They said because 'twas foggy;

So they escaped the sad disgrace

Of being called groggy.

Worse yet to a man from Italy they say

When some inebriated

On the outside he took his way,

And so got deturbated.

He was flung flat down on the track,

The wheels did overtake him;

And both his legs the wheels did crack

Which made one leg forsake him.

“The poor man was taken to Providence [by the train that ran over him?] and there had to have the remaining leg amputated.

“About the time the oxen were killed on the track an Irishman suffered the same fate:”

The wheels on him did trample;

Another one thought he would stay

And follow the example.

The one was crushed beneath the load,

The other's bones were broken;

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This is the way in the rail-road

Or else I'm much mistaken.[37]

* * *

On 3 September 1837 the little Bury-built engine Boston set some sort of record by hauling a

14,418-pound train (whether passenger, freight or mixed is not specified) unassisted from Boston to

Providence.[38] This implies either that at least some trains, and not very heavy ones, either,

required double-headed or pusher engines to get over Sharon hill or that normally Boston lacked the

stamina to go it alone.

Boston and Providence continued to acquire real estate in West Mansfield: Zebediah Skinner on

28 October transferred to the corporation by warrantee deed a large parcel of land on the east side

of the track north of John Hodges Brook in Mansfield.[39]

Unlike Elijah Dean, Isaac Stearns seems to have had no complaints to record against the trains,

which obviously he regarded as a great convenience and sometimes an object of curiosity. He wrote

in his diary on 31 October 1837 (nine days after Henry Thoreau up in Concord began his own

monumental journal), “P. M. to Mansfield Depot to see Black Hawk and several other Indians on

their way from Boston on West . . . .” This involved a four-mile round trip walk for Stearns just to

catch a glimpse of the famed war chief Black Hawk for whom the Boston and Providence

anthracite-burning engine Black Hawk had been named; though if the train stopped while the engine

took on water, as it probably did, the stubby little white man and the tall, thin, hawk-nosed, elderly

red man might have had a good look at one another.[40]

* * *

One positive note in 1837 as far as the traveling public was concerned was the opening on 10

November of the New-York, Providence and Boston Rail Road, popularly known as “the Stonington,” from Hill's Wharf in Providence to Stonington wharf in Connecticut.[41] This

company had been chartered in Rhode Island 23 June 1832 and organized 23 January 1833.[42]

The Stonington road was the first small step toward eventual completion of the all-rail “Shore Line” route between Boston and New York, and promised to considerably improve the previously trying

and overlong intercity trip. A New York journal recognized the significance of the line when it said,

“The successful completion of the Stonington Railroad is a matter of national concern. It is undoubtedly the ne plus ultra of communication between Boston and New York City . . . .”[43] It

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also brought Providence one step nearer to being a mere way station.

In spite of the depression and the Stonington railroad company's shortage of spending money,

William Gibbs McNeill had outdone himself in laying out and constructing the new railroad. Few in

the country were more solidly built, and this plus the few curves (there was one long tangent across

the Great Swamp near Kingston, Rhode Island) permitted trains to be run faster than on other

lines.[44] The fact that the dislike of some Rhode Islanders for railroads forced McNeill to avoid

the centers of places like Wickford and Kingston when laying track[45] played into the hands of the

Stonington management. Who cared about Wickford and Kingston when New York City was in

view?

The Stonington was the second railroad to enter Providence and its arrival caused a radical

change in the operation of the connecting steamboats of the wealthy Cornelius Vanderbilt and

others. In the beginning the new railroad's only boat connection was with the New York and Boston

Transportation Company, which now made Stonington an important port of call on its voyages

between Providence and New York. Soon after the new railroad opened, the 212-foot-long, 300-

horsepower, woodburning steamboat Narragansett by contract with the railroad departed

Stonington three days a week for New York; in winter one of these trips was dropped. Later, when

two more woodburners, Massachusetts and the twin-stacked Rhode Island, joined the service, boats

left Stonington every night [46]

The fastest and most powerful boat on Long Island Sound was the classy 488-ton Lexington,

which Vanderbilt in 1834 had ordered built to his personal design by New York City‟s Bishop and

Simonson shipyards; she was launched in 1835. In 1838, New York and Boston Transportation

Company, wanting a boat that would rival the current Sound speed champion, the new John W.

Richmond of Rhode Island‟s Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company, talked

their rival Vanderbilt into selling them Lexington for $60,000 and then demanded $10,000 of the

cash-strapped Stonington railroad to amputate the Newport-Providence leg of Lexington's voyage

and tie up at Stonington, whence their passengers could board “steamboat trains” to Providence and Boston. (Another $2000 was spent somewhere, bringing the total cost of the boat to $72,000.)

Narragansett and Rhode Island, previously running through to Providence, also cut short their

voyage and made Stonington their terminus.[47]

The fishing village of Stonington, though it had only a few hundred residents, boasted a good

harbor. Lexington's skipper and pilot now had no need to fret about meeting with choppy seas and

253

fogs in the dangerous passage around Point Judith, Rhode Island, sometimes described as the Cape

Hatteras of New England; the entire voyage took place within the shelter of Long Island Sound.

Nor were the inadequate channel and the sometimes-frozen harbor at Providence any further

concern; the new short water route was open and ice-free all year. Furthermore, people who lived

between the Thames River and Narragansett Bay were more apt to patronize the steamers for a

quick overnight trip to New York.

Passengers aboard the racy-looking side-wheeled walking-beam steamboats Stonington,

Narragansett and Lexington now could depart Manhattan at six in the evening, each boat flying a

giant United States flag at its stern and the company flag from the bow (at least it did so in pictures;

probably when under way the large flag was taken in to prevent the wind whipping it to ribbons).

Arriving at Stonington wharf eight hours later at the witching hour of two in the morning, the

travelers boarded the “Steamboat Train” behind the engine Little Rest or Stonington which made the

47-1/2-mile trip to Providence, even with three intermediate stops, in sometimes as little as two

hours, or at worst two and a half, pulling triumphantly into the new South Providence depot at

Hill‟s wharf near Henderson Street on the west side of Providence River across from Fox Point.[48]

Later, the steamboats Providence and Michigan were added on the New York-Stonington runs.

Because the Providence terminals of the Stonington and the Boston and Providence railroads lay

on opposite sides of the Providence River, in 1838 a steam ferry connection was built into the

middle of the trip. This was in accordance with the railroad‟s Rhode Island charter. The New-York,

Providence and Boston had wanted to build a bridge across the river connecting with the Boston

and Providence at India Point, which for all practical purposes would have turned the Stonington-

Boston line into a single railroad. But because the owners of the Tockwotten Hotel and other inns

near the Boston and Providence‟s crossing of Seekonk River, who complained that construction of another bridge would divert business from them and decrease their property values, had clout with

the Rhode Island General Assembly, the politicians placed local interests ahead of the convenience

of the traveling public and refused the Stonington road permission to build the bridge. The ferry and

docking facilities at Hill's Wharf set the railroad back $40,000 in construction costs and $4000 to

$5000 a year for operation, besides causing lengthy delays in transloading freight across the harbor

from one railroad terminal to the other. This ferry connection was maintained until both railroads

moved to the Providence Union Station in 1848.[49]

Through passengers arriving at Hill's Wharf from Stonington in the wee hours transferred to the

ferry and were carried five-eighths of a mile across the upper harbor, past Fox Point to the Boston

station at India Point; and despite the inevitable dissatisfaction with the connection it continued to

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operated as an unavoidable part of the Boston-Stonington trip. Once aboard the Boston and

Providence train, the passengers, if all went well, reached Boston at 6:30 a. m., 12-1/2 hours after

leaving Manhattan, three and a half hours earlier than the former schedule and well in time for the

start of the business day.[50]

Like Amtrak's medium-high-speed Acela, this service was arranged primarily with the "business

chaps" in mind. Tickets for the water-rail journey were sold in strips of four (three tickets and a

stub), one of which was torn off or punched at each change point; in the case of first class passage,

space was provided where the number of the assigned berth on the steamboat was to be filled in,

and the tickets were printed with “One Cabin Passage” (for the boat) and “In First Class Cars” (for the train), proof that the “Steamboat Train” carried both first and second class coaches.

This class distinction, which we associate more with railway service in other more snob-

conscious parts of the world than in the democratic United States, may have originated (and this is

speculation) as a logical extension of the Boston and Providence and the Stonington railroads'

intimate connections with steamboat lines which customarily sold separate classes of tickets. The

idea behind the two fare classes appears mainly to have been a market-driven desire to allow

travelers to choose and pay for the relative comfort level they preferred; though some feel it

represented a social effort on the part of the railroads and those they sought to appease to keep the

different orders of society apart.[51]

Boston and Providence also, through the Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation

Company, still operated their own New York steamboats out of Providence, with a customary stop

at Newport as they sailed down Narragansett Bay and thence around Point Judith. This boat line put

on an almost ridiculously valiant show in an attempt to get travelers coming off the Boston and

Providence cars to forego the swift convenience of the Stonington railroad and go on to New York

by water. They staged free band concerts and served free afternoon tea and cakes on Providence

wharf before the boats cast off. The general manager of one of these steamship lines hosted his

passengers on the wharf in elegant white kid gloves – a new pair every day! He peeled off his

gloves and tossed them into the harbor as a signal for the boat to depart.[52]

But the water-rail trip from Boston to New York via Stonington beat by several hours the best

time offered by the steamers leaving from Providence, so that the concerts, tea and white glove act

went largely for naught. This virtual Stonington monopoly lasted for a decade, when the combined

service of the Old Colony Railroad from Boston to Fall River and the famed Fall River line of fine

steamboats to New York in 1847 beat out in turn the Stonington route.

255

The Stonington railroad put the intermediate village of Westerly, Rhode Island, on the map; from

a thinly populated hamlet in 1837, by 1852 Westerly was to boast two or three thousand

residents.[53]

The near conjunction at Providence of the Stonington and the Boston and Providence in 1837

along with their water connections was to attract various factories to the neighborhood of Fox Point,

producing freight traffic for both roads. Among these were Fuller Iron Works built in 1840 on Pike

Street and the Providence Tool Company completed on Wickenden Street in 1844.

Yet behind its brave facade, the Stonington – the New-York, Providence and Boston, to give it its

right name – suffered severely from the effects of the 1837 Panic. Two years after it opened,

trustees of the bond mortgage foreclosed and seized the property, to the severe discomfiture of a

number of the line's New York City investors. Contractors, lawyers and others whom the railroad

had paid in bonds instead of cash placed attachments on the company's real and personal property.

At one time Superintendent Phelps at Stonington had to scramble to keep enough cars, engines and

fuel out of the creditors' hands to maintain operations. The corporation tried to lease themselves to

the New York and Boston Transportation Company which owned the connecting boats, but the

steamer company wanted no part of that albatross. What saved the railroad financially was its

increasing popularity with riders, but it was 1843 before the line got out of hock.[54]

* * *

Boston and Providence, despite the general economic downturn, managed to mark up another

stellar year in 1837. Passenger revenues for this second full year of operation were $193,470,

freight revenues $55,727 and other sources $1687, for a total gross income of $250,844. Their

expenses were $11,707 for track repair; $29,794 for repairs to locomotives and cars; and wood, oil,

wages and other items $106,737, including costs not related to operations, such as the $25,000 or

more paid to passengers injured in the 1836 wreck. Total operating expenses were $148,238,

leaving a net income for the year of $102,646.[55] Thus the operating ratio was a still enviable 59.1

out of 100. As in the previous year Boston and Providence shareholders each received two

dividends at four percent, totaling $132,000.[56]

Among the expenses was $5000 paid for five new passenger coaches[57] which should have

helped pacify the complainers of two years before. In addition, this may have been the winter (and

none too soon, because December turned raw and cold) when anthracite-burning stoves were

installed in the cars, which during their first two years of operation had been as devoid of heat as a

Puritan meeting house, thus further increasing the comfort and happiness of their patrons.[58]

256

During 1837, each of the 11 locomotives in service typically made two round trips a day between

Boston and Providence, totaling 84 miles. On the average each engine burned a cord of wood on

each 42-mile leg, sufficient to turn 700 gallons of water to steam, while the total consumption of

valve and lubricating oil (which was expensive) was 1374 gallons or 1/2 gallon per run. Trains

made 2658 one-way runs over the line, which at 42 miles each came to a total of 111,635 miles;

thus an average of 7.28 one-way runs per day, including, it is supposed, both passenger and freight

trains, during 1837. The cost to the railroad for each mile traveled was $1.06.[59]

The railroad obtained two new locomotives in that year, neither of which appears to have given

satisfactory service. Both were built by Whistler at Locks and Canals. One was Tiot (the Indian

name for Dedham), construction number 22,[60] and the other Neponset. Nothing is known of

Tiot's mechanical specifications, though chances are they were similar to those of its sister

locomotive. Neponset presumably was another Planet-type throwback. It was a 2-2-0, the last

engine with a two leading wheels to be built for Boston and Providence until 1851; drivers 60

inches, cylinders larger than usual – 12 by 18 inches. Neponset appears to have been retired from

active use within a year; both engines were extremely short-lived, being gone from the Boston and

Providence roster by 1838. Neponset was sold to those perennial junk-collectors the Boston,

Hartford and Erie Railroad as their Number 3, retaining the name Neponset,[61] but this sale could

not have occurred until 1863 because the Hartford road was not chartered and organized until then;

meanwhile, the engine must have been kept in storage.

At the close of 1837 Boston and Providence seems to have had 13 locomotives on their active

roster.[62] These were: Massachusetts (ex-Whistler), Boston, New York, Lowell, Providence,

Philadelphia, Baldwin 1, 2 and 3, Young 1 and 2 and the new Tiot and Neponset. Mysteriously, the

locomotives Lincoln, Canton and Dedham appear to have gone suddenly missing before 1838,

though apparently they remained on the property, most likely stored ignominiously on some rusty

track behind the shops up to their knees in weeds or, just possibly, used as stationary boilers on

wheels for heating buildings; because Lincoln was rebuilt for sale to Boston, Hartford and Erie as

their Number 5[63] in 1863 and Canton and Dedham both were sold, the former in 1848 to Norfolk

County Railroad. It may be that one of the latter two engines had been damaged in the earlier head-

on collision at Roxbury.

257

The Taunton Branch too did quite well for itself in 1837. For some reason (maybe the railroad

had opened in an unfinished condition) construction expenses mounted throughout most of the year,

and through November these came to $198,482.18 for the railway proper, $24,454.89 for

locomotives and cars, $21,982.16 for stations and other buildings, and for miscellaneous,

$11,833.93. The total was $256,753.16.

The Branch's revenues in 1837 were: from passengers $35,160.40, freight $11,023.61, other

sources $654.80, total $46,838.81. Expenses other than construction costs amounted to only

$2062.19.[64]

The reliable engine Taunton continued to make four daily one-way runs of 11 miles each.[65]

But in 1837 she gained a helpmate, named New Bedford, built, like the older engine, at Locks and

Canals, construction number 24, specifications unknown.[66] This addition to the Branch roster

seems to have been a poor performer, as she was gone by 1839, leaving Taunton to soldier on in

sturdy solitude.

258

NOTES

1. Long Island Star 2 Oct. 1834, which states, “The length of the line will not exceed 96 miles . . . . A ferry of about 65 [sic!] miles . . . will connect the line with Stonington, from which the distance to Boston by the Stonington,

Boston, and Providence [sic] Railroad, does not exceed 90 miles.” I cannot reconcile the two different mileages given for the ferry trip. Note that our ancestors were fond of the hyphen, e.g., Long-Island, New-York, Rhode-Island, rail-

road, etc.

2. An Army Corps of Engineers survey to improve Providence harbor was made in 1853 by Lieut. William A.

Rosecrans, later a Union general in the Civil War, but it was 1873 before a 12-foot-deep channel was opened to the city

docks.

3. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 266-267.

4. Long Island Star 2 Oct. 1834.

5. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38: p. 1, letter 1, W. W. Woolsey to W. R. Lee 28 Nov. 1836.

6. Ringwalt 1888.

7. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 428. Thoreau in his Journal comments several times about fires in Concord set by engines,

e. g., in 1850 (v. 2, p. 25), 29 Apr. 1852, 19 Aug. 1854 and 4 Apr. and 23 Aug. 1856, and tells of willows along the

tracks being cut down to prevent their catching fire, 27 Mar. 1853.

8. The word in the Mansfield News is “boxer.” Evidently the type-setter who misread Miss Copeland's writing was

unfamiliar with the biblical story (Judges 15: 4-5) in which Samson attached flaming torches to the tails of 300 foxes

which he then turned loose to burn the standing grain and olive orchards of his enemies the Philistines.

9. Copeland 1931a. “Tobit” was John T. Tobit for whom the original West Mansfield depot was named. 10. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 428. The Rhode-Island Anti-Slavery Society was organized at Providence in Feb. 1836.

11. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38: p. 1, letter 1, W. W. Woolsey from the New York office to W. R. Lee 28 Nov.

1836. Did Woolsey employ a seer or have a crystal ball that he could predict the railroad‟s income to the end of the

year; or was he writing of the last half of 1835?

12. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 327, 330.

13. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38: p. 8, W. W. Woolsey to J. F. Loring 24 Dec. 1836.

14. Baldwin (1795-1866) had familiarized himself with locomotive construction by assembling with some difficulty

an 1832 English import named Delaware for the Newcastle & Frenchtown R. R., besides which he had a chance to look

over the 1831 John Bull of Camden & Amboy. His first locomotive, Old Ironsides, was, like those built by Whistler at

Lowell, a “Planet” clone, a Chinese copy of Delaware. In 1835 to accommodate some major orders he unwisely built a

new and larger shop and beefed up his work force from 30 to 300 men. But his business, like so many others, crashed

during the Panic of 1837, and it took him some time to recover and go on to become one of the major U. S. locomotive

builders of all time (White 1968-79: 8, 22, 449-50).

15. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; 1943-98: 9; Edson 1981: xvii. Baldwin, a believer in standard designs, refused to fill

orders where the specifications differed from his stock models (White 1968/1979: 25), so it is interesting that although

the Boston & Providence engines appear to be three of a kind, their specifications do not fit any one of the three

standard sizes of engine that Baldwin offered from 1835 to 1840, which were:

259

First class--Cylinders, 12-1/2" x 16"; weight loaded, 26,000 pounds

Second class-- " 12" x 16"; " " 23,000 "

Third class-- " 10-1/2" x 16"; " " 20,000 " (Ringwalt 1888; Hist. Baldwin Loco.

Wks 1923: 23 in Westing 1966: 22.)

16. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 80.

17. Belcher 1938: no. 3. Baldwin was aware that between 1831 and 1836 cabs had been applied to certain engines

in chilly upstate New York and may have extended this idea to the Boston & Providence machines. In large part,

however, builders for some years continued to supply locomotives without cabs, which frequently were provided after

delivery by the railroads or even improvised according to the ingenuity of the engine crews (White 1968-79: 221-2).

18. White 1968-79: 34.

19. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38 (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005).

20. Belcher 1938: no. 3.

21. American industries, Sci. Am. 31 May 1884; Belcher 1938: no. 3; J. W. Harding 1934-45: 67; Kay 1974: 38;

Westwood 1977-8: 58. Matthias Baldwin invented the ground metallic joint about 1834.

22. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; 1943-98: 9; Edson 1981: xviii. A. M. Levitt (pers. comm. 1999) feels, and I concur,

that "Fisher's listings Baldwin #1, Baldwin #2, Baldwin #3, Young #1, and Young #2 should not be taken to mean that

there were locomotives that carried polished brass plates with the names Baldwin #1, etc. (although Fisher's listing

implies such). I think that the reference (and such may appear in B&P archival materials) is to 'the first locomotive the

B&P acquired from Baldwin', 'the second locomotive the B&P acquired . . .', and so forth. I think that these five

locomotives probably carried names other than these designations (based on the dates they were in use), but these five

names may have been 'lost'. On the other hand, these five locomotives may not have carried name-plates, and the

'Baldwin' and 'Young' 'names' were derived from the Baldwin and Young builder's plates. (The Boston & Lowell's

Stephenson may be an example of the same sort of situation.)" If these engines did not carry names other than those

listed, they were an outstanding exception among all B&P locomotives from 1833 to 1888!

23. White 1968-79: 5, 145-6.

24. A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005. The opinion of A. M. Levitt that the railroad was “quite dependent upon the revenue earned from carrying the mails from Providence, and from New York brought by the Steam Boat landing at

Providence, to Boston, as well as the mails from Boston to Providence” (pers. comm. 2005) does not appear to be borne out by statistics. According to Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 327, table 3-7), Boston & Providence revenues from “other sources” (presumably including mail) than passengers and freight amounted to $1687 in 1837, $3991 in 1838 and $3896 in 1839. These figures come to only 0.67%, 1.51% and 1.25% respectively of the total revenues. Gerstner says

nothing of the B&P mail contracts. A letter of complaint in a Boston paper, previously quoted, indicates that B&P

demanded at least $100 (per year?) for carrying the mail. However in 1839 B&P earned $3000 carrying mail.

The Utica & Schenectady in their trains operated dedicated mail cars heated by stoves, with letter boxes; a postal

official sat in the car throughout the run, sorting letters. Whether B&P used a similar arrangement I do not know.

There is some mention in the B&P pres. letter book suggesting that the structure of the mail service between Boston

and Providence was in some state of flux, and that a decision as to Mail Route 298 presumably between those cities

would be made by the Post Office Dep‟t in Washington (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005). 25. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38: p. 7, letter 3, W. W. Woolsey to W. R. Lee 22 Dec. 1836, written from Boston &

Providence‟s Providence office. A. M. Levitt remarks, “It seems that postal employees could then accept Christmas

260

presents!” I have been able to learn nothing of Gen. Mallett. 26. B&P pres. letter book 1836-38: p. 8, W. W. Woolsey to J. F. Loring 24 Dec. 1836, from his New York office – it

appears that the peripatetic Mr. Woolsey kept constantly on the move from office to office. Smuggling was a problem

faced also by the Camden & Amboy R. R. in New Jersey. Whatever Woolsey thought of the Merchants Bank, he wrote

of making both personal and company deposits in it..

27. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 472. It is interesting and enlightening that even in New England 24 years before the Civil

War, small-town selectmen were elected partly on the basis of their support for either slavery or abolition!

28. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 468.

29. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 468.

30. Stearns's 16 May and 9 June trips are in Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 476. Stearns mentions the unusual May weather in

his diary for the 22nd (ibid.).

31. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 267.

32. Knight and Latrobe 1838: 35-6; R. Fisher 1976: 2-3. Many of the early rules were drawn from English railway

practices. The spacious Tockwotten mansion near India Point in 1850 later became the Providence Reform School home

for wayward children. See also Harlow 1946: 360-1.

33. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 822.

34. Hokey as it may sound, it is claimed that George W. Whistler in 1836 invented the steam locomotive whistle,

installing it on two locomotives he built at Locks & Canals (Dupuy 1940-43: 272; White 1968-79: 215); though careful

examination of a written statement by C. W. Roberts in that year (see Whistler biography in Appendix I) casts some

doubt on the idea. The whistle was said to give “an awful notice of the locomotive's approach.” Reed (1968: 155) states that either William Norris or Thomas Rogers on his 1837 engine Sandusky was the first to apply a steam whistle to an

American locomotive. On Boston & Providence the bell appears to have been the only warning device for the first few

years. By 1839 the Stonington railroad engines used steam whistles (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 337). A red flag for many

decades has been used where blue was customary in the 1830s.

I assume that contrary to what it says in Rule 4, the boat train's engineer or fireman, not the conductor, sounded the

engine bell, unless the passenger cars were equipped with bells or bell cords as on the Portsmouth & Roanoke R. R.

previously mentioned. But (as an English historian warns) the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there,

so perhaps, strange as it sounds to us, the conductor did ring the bell.

35. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 822.

36. Beebe and Clegg 1952: 34. There is a question in my mind whether Messrs. Condor and Kervin were bona fide

passengers or what became known later as hoboes. The experience of Mr. Beck with the “bouncing factory girls” suggests that when the cars were overcrowded, paying passengers were encouraged to ride on the roofs, as on today's

railroads in India, but I doubt they were required to ride atop loads of lumber.

37. Copeland 1931a; partly quoted in Copeland 1936-56: 72. As I heard an engineman say after nearly hitting a

pedestrian walking the track, “You'd think people would realize that if someone went to all the trouble to build a railroad they might want to run a train on it now and then.” Even in a fog, Jacob Bailey, unless he was using a private crossing, should have seen the warning sign that the state required to be posted at all public crossings and if he had

listened could have heard the bell which by rule and law had to be rung for a quarter mile as the engine approached. As

to Hiram Grover (and anyone in Mansfield named Grover was at least a distant relative of mine), history repeats: a

locomotive in which I was riding nearly sideswiped a truckload of cranberry workers illegally using the railroad as a

261

short cut. The unfortunate rare Italian was 70 years ahead of the coming of most of his fellow nationals, many of whom

on arrival went to work for the railroad as section hands, replacing the Irish, who became bosses. Note the interesting

lesson in early 19th century pronunciation: that “deserted” rhymed with “parted.” 38. Levitt 1997, from Dodd Research Center, Univ. of Connecticut.

39 Recorded at Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, Mass., 28 Nov. 1837, v. 155, p. 247; this parcel

is depicted on an old railroad plan, NYNH&H map 62530, filed at Taunton (courtesy of L. F. Flynn 1998).

40. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 486. Black Hawk was one of a delegation of Indians who went to Washington, D. C., in

connection with the purchase by the government of an immense tract of land in the Midwest. D. Jackson (1955: 155-6)

says that though the 70-year-old former war chief of the Sauk tribe was not lionized as he had been on his 1833 tour of

the East “he still was an object of attention,” as, obviously, Isaac Stearns thought. Black Hawk died just over 11 months later.

41. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6 gives the (probably correct) opening date as 10 Nov., C. Fisher says the 17th.

42. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 3.

43. New York Journal of Commerce July 1933.

44. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 332, 335; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 5. Whistler appears however to have carried away

most of the credit for building the line.

45. Turner and Jacobus 1986: 5.

46. Harlow 1946: 221; Turner and Jacobus 1986: 8.

47. Harlow 1946: 222-3; A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005, from McAdams. The steamship line operating between

New York and Stonington remained in operation until May 1904. It appears, from the multiplicity of steamboats leaving

and arriving at Stonington and Providence, that there must have been more than one steamboat train, yet I have found

nothing to indicate this until considerably later in the century, when there was a “day” and (evidently) a “night” steamboat train.

48. Gerstner 1842-43/1995: 335; Belcher 1938: no. 4; Ozog 1984: 7.

49. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 333; Bayles 1891..

50. Farson 1993: 82.

51. Somewhat paraphrasing Levitt 2002: 4, who goes on to say, “The purpose of this two-class passenger travel is

shrouded in mystery and myth. . . . Although passenger 'classes' generally represented types of accommodations rather

than provision for homogeneous social tranches, we have little evidence or description of the actual furnishings used in

the Boston and Providence's passenger cars. . . . [W]ere 'first class' trains 'express trains,' and 'second class' 'stopping

trains'? . . . Although it is often suggested that the aim of the Boston and Providence's two-class system was to separate

social orders, the actual intent stands as an unsolved mystery. However, it does appear that B & P intended to make

travel by rail egalitarian. Carefully-kept diaries indicate class-of-travel varied with the recorder's journey, supporting the

explanation that 'class' denoted express or local service, with the coaches on each providing different levels of comfort,

rather than a separation of social orders.” But hard evidence that cars of the two classes were handled in the same train is seen in the “Steamboat Train” tickets previously adverted to, and would appear to demolish the “express” versus "local train" hypothesis. Then there is the ugly matter (which we will come to shortly) of the “Jim Crow” or racially segregated cars, which must have been

second class at best. We do have fairly convincing evidence that Isaac Stearns of Mansfield traveled by boat to New

York in second class because it was cheaper; and positive evidence from him and others that Jim Crow cars were

262

handled in the same train with coaches of “superior” class. There is little question that in the 19th century United States a greater separation existed between socioeconomic classes even within the white race than is now generally the case.

A photograph of tickets marked “Stonington Line” and “Steamer Plymouth Rock” is in Turner and Jacobus 1986: 9. Information on steamboats is drawn from C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 78; FWP-RI 1937: 88; Harlow 1948: 105-6; Beebe

and Clegg 1952: 23; Weller 1969: 72-4; Cartwright 1976: 4; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29; Gamst ed. 1990: 15; and

Farson 1993: 82-3. This is the earliest reference I have found to the use of first and second class tickets by Boston &

Providence; I do not know when the practice began. Apparently it ended about 1860.

52. Harlow 1946: 230.

53. Babcock 1922.

54. Harlow 1946: 222-3.

55. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 326-7.

56. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 330.

57. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 326.

58. Harlow (1946: 386), however, quotes an article from the Boston Journal of 23 Dec. 1835 noting that “stoves in which anthracite coal is burned have been introduced upon the different routes leading from this city.” Whether these “different routes” included Boston & Providence, which operated through a region of less severe winters than the

Lowell and Worcester roads, is not clear to me. I find it hard to believe that the most heartless railroad would make its

passengers go through one or two winters in unheated cars. Stagecoaches, however, were not heated, unless by human

crowding.

59. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 326.

60. Edson 1981: xvii.

61. C. Fisher 1939: 72, who comments on the BH&E roster that “a more motley array of second hand power the writer has never witnessed”; Edson 1981: xvii.

62. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 326) says 11 locomotives provided service in 1837. Perhaps Tiot and Neponset were

not delivered until the end of the year.

63. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 80, May 1938: 72; Edson 1981: xvii.

64. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331.

65. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331.

66. C. Fisher 1943-98: 12; Edson 1981: xvi.

263

16 – A European railroader in Yankeeland

The Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation in 1838 continued to improve both its rail

service and water connections. During May of that year, Josiah Quincy, Jr., who recently had

become president of the line in place of William W. Woolsey, was a proud passenger on the maiden

voyage of the steamer John W. Richmond, which his railroad had bought and put into service

through the Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company.[1] Quincy was pleased

to note that Richmond beat its competitor and the former holder of the Long Island Sound speed

record, Lexington, in a race from Stonington to Manhattan, proving, if proof were needed, that the

Massachusetts senate committee were on target when in the Great Seekonk Railroad Case they

described boat traffic on the Sound as having a "wild and adventurous character."

Train riders were not forgotten, either. In that same year, in the modest Roxbury shop, master

mechanic George S. Griggs began the manufacture of passenger cars. The stagecoach-type cars in

temporary use on the main line between Canton and Providence before the viaduct was completed

already had been banished, replaced by four-wheel center-corridor cars with side doors, built in

Hoboken and Baltimore. Now these (perhaps the leaky cars passengers complained about) felt the

breath of a competing model as Griggs, possibly having heard of the eight-wheeled cars built for

the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road four years earlier, in March 1838 went to work on the idea (or so

he claimed later) of building the coach of the future by putting two of the small car bodies on one

underframe with two swiveling four-wheeled trucks beneath. This he did, completing his first eight-

wheeled passenger coach in September.[2] This was one of the first eight-wheeled passenger cars

built in New England. Besides giving the passenger a smoother ride than the old four-wheeled

version, it tracked far better and more safely on curves and switches.

Griggs's car proved so successful that he rebuilt some four-wheeled freight cars on the double-

truck model, uniting (kit-bashing, model railroaders would put it) two and even three of the old car

bodies and rebuilding the former running gear into trucks, and then went on to construct some

eight-wheeled passenger coaches from scratch.[3] Soon all Boston and Providence cars were

double-trucked and the design has remained standard in the United States until today, though

Europeans with their smaller cars have been slow to catch up.

The replacement of William Woolsey with Josiah Quincy, Jr., and the gaining of a Bostonian

264

majority on the board of directors, affected the capital of the Bay State like a soothing south wind.

For the first time since the incorporation of the railroad, the Bay State mercantile aristocracy were

in control and at least partly turned the road‟s orientation 180 degrees, so that inbound rail business with Boston increased.[4]

Also in 1838 the United States Congress, to the dismay of the surviving stagecoach operators,

voted that every railroad in the nation was officially a post road. The postmaster general

accordingly was authorized to contract with the rail companies to carry the mail on their passenger

trains, the only stipulation being that they should be paid a rate "not more than 25 per cent over and

above what similar carrying charges would cost in post coaches." Indeed, it appears that by 1839

the Boston and Providence and the New-York, Providence and Boston railroads combined were

operating a daily mail train between Boston and Stonington.[5] This switchover had much the

effect on stage drivers and operators as the 20th century decision to abandon 900 railway post office

cars in favor of planes was to have on the rail carriers. Over the next decade stagecoach drivers,

who were laid off by scores, were described in the newspapers as a "melancholy example of an

entire class of workmen."[6]

And still others were unhappy that the railroad had changed their lives so drastically. It was

customary in those pre-television days for townspeople to form debating societies at whose evening

meetings the momentous questions of the day, among which abolition of slavery and restrictions on

immigration ranked high, were discussed. One such society was the Canton Lyceum, and in 1838

they debated the question: "Is the Boston and Providence Railroad More benefit Than Injury to the

Town?" Perhaps it was the Chinese wall of Canton viaduct that decided the matter, but the vote was

in the negative.[7]

A maze of statistics for Boston and Providence construction and operations is available for 1838.

In the third full year of their existence the company earned $196,975 carrying passengers, $64,149

from freight and $3991 from other sources, including mail, for a total of $265,115. Since expenses

directly related to running trains came to $113, 576, their operating ratio (income/expenses), the

most telling barometer by which the efficiency of a railroad is measured, amounted to a healthy

42.8. Net profit per mile was $3608. Boston and Providence shareholders continued to receive two

4% dividends yearly.

The railroad during the year carried a total of 103,000 passengers on 2,223 42-mile runs and

12,829.5 tons of freight on 624 runs; thus the average passenger train held 46 riders and the average

freight train 20.6 tons, figures which today fall well below the capacity of a single passenger or

265

freight car. Passenger revenues plus the new mail receipts earned the railroad $2.15 per mile and

freight revenues $2.45.

These figures did not include operation of the horse-powered Dedham Branch, which had been

leased to a private entrepreneur with the railroad company furnishing and maintaining coaches and

track and the lessee providing the horses and drivers and doing the station work, remitting to the

railroad half the gross receipts, which came to about $8000 per annum.[8]

Wood for engine fuel was always an important expense. Boston and Providence had given up

using pitch pine, and the engines now were burning spruce, a cord of which cost the railroad $5.50

to $7 in 1838, the expense of sawing it into lengths suitable for the firebox adding 75 cents per

cord. The railroad's engines in 1838 consumed 3200 cords costing $18,618 (an average of $5.82 per

cord), their locomotives averaging 37-1/3 miles on a cord at a cost of 15.4 to 18.8 cents per mile.[9]

In New England, wood was used in enormous quantities for home heating, building (including

ship building when freighted to New Bedford and other seaports), charcoal burning (charcoal was

used for cooking fuel by city dwellers, and in jewelry factories for the intense heat it developed),

basket making, shingles and other purposes. For miles around major cities the landscape was laid

bare, and what cordwood that was cut elsewhere had escalated in price. The days when farmers

along the railroad line could add to their incomes by supplying large quantities of wood for stacking

beside way stations like Mansfield had all but disappeared as southeastern New England became

increasingly denuded, and anyway, spruce was not common in the region. The result was, spruce

had to be brought from Canada, northern and western New England or the Appalachians, and this

meant that the Boston and Providence in many cases was forced to shell out more than twice what

more favorably located roads were paying for fuel.[10]

To lubricate valves, bearings and other moving parts the engines used 1168-1/2 gallons of oil

costing $1024.64 during 1838 or 0.41 gallons per locomotive, the reason for the reduction from 1837

being that "oil was measured out and recorded separately for each locomotive engineer, leading to

greater thrift in its consumption."[11]

Boston and Providence had 10 locomotives in service at the end of 1838, which, taking into

consideration the short length of the main line, ran an amazing total of 199,574 miles during the

year, or an average of 12,000 miles per engine; one locomotive (the Boston, perhaps?) racked up

18,686 miles while the lowest mileage made by any engine was 1334.[12] Average speed of Boston

and Providence passenger trains was still a sedate 20 miles per hour; freight trains 10.[13]

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Apparently the engine Tiot, a Locks and Canals machine, was disposed of, how or to whom is not

recorded. Reflecting the Panic of the preceding year, the railroad bought no new locomotives in

1838. This left the following engines on their roster but not necessarily in service at the year end:

Massachusetts (ex-Whistler), Boston, New York, Lowell, Providence, Philadelphia, Baldwin 1, 2 and

3, and Young 1 and 2.[14]

Track repair in 1838 cost $16,856.69: wages $8476.97, 1674 new ties for $418.50 (25 cents

apiece), 1475 new rail chairs for $737.50, wood and spikes $1578.03 and strengthening and repair of

bridges $5645.69. Repairs to locomotives and cars came to $19,953.02.[15]

* * *

Meanwhile some interesting things had been happening to the Taunton Branch Rail Road. On 13

April 1838 the Massachusetts legislature authorized incorporation of the Old Colony Railroad

Corporation,[16] which was granted the right to build a road from the southern terminus of the

Taunton Branch in Taunton to New Bedford, a distance of 20 miles, with one intermediate station to

be called Myrick's (later spelled minus the possessive apostrophe). This had been predicted, and

would amount to a significant extension, in effect becoming a 31-mile line connecting the Boston

and Providence, which had a major seaport at each end of its own 42-mile road, with a third

important port. New Bedford's whaling industry, still on the rise, would top out at 430,000 barrels of

sperm and whale oil a year, and the 10,000 whalemen who manned the ships were to find the New

Bedford-Mansfield-Boston-Providence connection useful in getting from one maritime job to

another. The proposed railroad, when built, also would provide the incentive that turned New

Bedford into one of the nation's major textile centers.

Even without the extension planned by the Old Colony Railroad Corporation, the little Taunton

Branch in 1838 had total revenues of $48,737, of which $32,861 derived from carrying passengers,

while expenses were $34,966. These figures, like present-day railroad financial statements, are

tricky, however, in that they include those amounts received and spent in the shared operation of

Taunton Branch cars over the Boston and Providence. Taunton Branch, in the spirit of Tristam

Burges, paid the larger road 50 cents per passenger and one dollar per ton of freight for the use of its

track and locomotives. Taunton Branch shareholders in 1838 were paid one dividend of 5

percent.[17]

Average speed of passenger trains on the Taunton Branch was 20 miles per hour;[18] that of

freight trains is not given. The 11-mile line continued to get along with only two presumably well-

maintained locomotives, both of 30 horsepower: the stout Taunton and the foresightedly-named New

Bedford; however the latter engine appears to be gone from the roster by 1839.[19] No new engines

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are known to have been built for Taunton Branch in the depression year of 1838.

In January 1839 subscription for the Old Colony Corporation, named for the colonial southeast

corner of Massachusetts whose original capital was Plymouth, got under way in Boston. The

company was organized 26 March 1839 under the changed name of New Bedford and Taunton Rail

Road Corporation[20] with a stock capital of 3000 shares at $100 a share, on which the total paid as

of January 1840 was $155,353. As further help, the state of Massachusetts granted the road a

$50,000 loan, and by using this amount as collateral the corporation obtained another $48,000. This

totaled $203,353. Joseph Grinnell of New Bedford was elected first president of the new

company.[21] Building commenced in May, when the mud was out of the ground.

The lay of the land being flat, track-laying proceeded in almost a straight line, and it was

estimated that construction costs would come to only $400,000, or $20,000 per mile; until January

1840, expenses amounted to $151,039.42. The rails used were of the same inverted "T" shape as

those on the Boston and Providence and the Taunton Branch.[22] For some reason, despite the near

absence of grades, cuts, fills or curves in the 20-mile distance, work progressed at the leisurely rate

of less than one half mile per week, and it was to be over a year before the New Bedford and

Taunton opened for business. Construction of the line also ran over budget. One of the reasons may

have been the cedar swamps described by Henry Thoreau on Christmas day 1854 when he rode the

railroad to visit his friend Daniel Ricketson in New Bedford, and noted in his journal that,

I think that I never saw a denser growth than the young white cedar swamps on the Taunton & New

Bedford Railroad. In most places it looked as if there was not room for a man to pass between the

young trees. That part of the country is remarkably level and wooded.[23]

It was through these forbidding swamps with their densely interlocking growth, which present-day

environmentalists are so reluctant to disturb, as if they had never been disturbed before without

being much harmed, that the civil engineers and laborers had to push the road to the Whaling City.

* * *

The railroad managements early on became aware that there was potentially a class of service

neither fish, flesh nor fowl – that is, it fell in the category of neither passengers, mail nor freight.

This was the business of carrying small specialized express shipments from place to place along the

rail and steamship routes. The Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation in 1835 and the new

Taunton Branch in 1836 pioneered this new service which eventually would grow into the nation-

wide railway express agencies of the 20th century.

268

Until that time, anyone wishing to send money, jewelry or valuable papers or parcels to a recipient

in another city had to hire a special messenger of proven probity or carry them himself. William

Frederick Harnden of Boston, when working for the Boston and Worcester as a 22-year-old

passenger conductor and sometime ticket clerk in Worcester station, noticed that an enterprising chap

named David T. Brigham had contracted with that road for $8 a week (about $165 in 2005 money)

and a free seat in one of the cars in return for carrying express in a small box. This struck Harnden as

a bright idea worth emulating, and before long he and other conductors began carrying so much

express themselves that Brigham shortly gave up the business.

The idea took fire like dry brush into which someone had tossed a match. In 1836 two men named

Dean and Davenport started carrying packages and letters by train between Taunton and Boston.

Others soon caught the fever.[24]

The frail-looking Harnden, seized by the idea that he could make a living carrying small or

valuable parcels and packages and important papers via passenger trains and steamboats between

Boston, Providence and New York business houses, at age 25 threw up his five-year railroad job. In

so doing, he made himself the star of another Horatio Alger success story.

On 23 February 1839 and for several days thereafter he advertised in the Boston papers that

beginning 4 March he would operate an express car with a messenger from Boston to Providence

and thence continue the service by steamboat to New York City, several days a week in each

direction. He began his embryo express service by touring Boston on foot, presumably knocking on

doors of business houses, while collecting his first packages and special letters in a large carpetbag.

But as a result of not doing his homework, Harnden‟s advertised plan to rent a special railroad car with a hired messenger ran afoul of an immediate obstacle. When he approached the Boston and

Providence Rail Road he found that two brothers named D. B. and L. B. Earle already had a

franchise with that company dating almost from its opening day, and acting as bank messengers were

carrying letters and packages between the Massachusetts and Rhode Island capitals. This enterprise

proved so successful that shortly they organized their own business, Earle's Express, handling

shipments to Providence, Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island, Stonington and New London.[25]

Harnden, meanwhile, drew in his horns a bit, and more modestly styling himself an "express

package carrier," bought a ticket and rode as an ordinary passenger from Boston to Providence, [26]

where he delivered the contents of a hand-carried valise. Apparently nothing he carried on this

maiden trip went on to New York.

But from this unimpressive start, his messenger service enjoyed such success that within a few

269

weeks one bag proved too small for the increasing load and he began lugging two valises. Next,

having run out of hands and arms, he hired other trustworthy passengers to help. Then he moved up

to using trunks instead of bags. From that point, as he had originally intended, he extended his range

to New York by means of the Stonington railroad and the steamboats.

On 5 July Harnden signed a contract granting him exclusive rights on the boats of the New York

and Boston Transportation Company running between Manhattan and Providence with stops at

Stonington and Newport and connecting with the railroads. Presumably this eventually included

travel aboard the Lexington, which now was owned by the Transportation Company.

On 1 August the New York and Boston Transportation Company merged with the New Jersey

Steam Navigation Company, chartered in the Garden State the previous February with a capital of

$500,000, under which charter they became proprietors of the Lexington. The same day as the

merger, Harnden and Charles Overing Handy, president of the New Jersey corporation, came to an

agreement that allowed Harnden, for $250 a month paid to the steamboat company, the privilege of

transporting in their vessels between New York and Providence, not more than once daily, or less

often if desired, a wooden crate measuring five feet wide by five feet high by six feet long, “contents unknown,” until 31 December 1839, the previous contract being dissolved.

Beginning in July, Harnden had been advertising his service in the newspapers, using the name of

the New York and Boston Transportation Company with which his agreement was still in force.

Whether or not through carelessness, he continued to use that company‟s name in ads published in two Boston newspapers until the end of 1839:

Boston and New York Express Baggage Car – Notice to Merchants, Brokers, Booksellers, and all

Business Men.

Wm. F. Harnden, having made arrangements with the New York and Boston Transportation, and

the Stonington and Providence Railroad Companies, will run a car through from Boston to New York,

and vice versa, via Stonington, with the mail train, daily, for the purpose of transporting specie, small

packages of goods, and bundles of all kinds. Packages sent by this line will be delivered on the

following morning, at any part of the city, free of charge. A responsible agent will accompany the car,

who will attend to purchasing goods, collecting drafts, notes, and bills, and will transact any other

business that may be intrusted to his charge.

Packages for Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, New Haven, Hartford, Albany, and Troy, will be

forwarded immediately on arrival in New York.

N. B. Wm. F. Harnden is alone responsible for any loss or injury of any articles or property

committed to his care, nor is any risk assumed by, or can any be attached to, the Boston and New York

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[sic] Transportation Company, in whose steamers the crates are to be transported, in respect to it or its

contents, at any time.[27]

This advertisement, the risk and responsibility clauses of which would boomerang against both

Harnden and the steamship company, was not free of its inaccuracies. Aside from the naming of a

steamer line that no longer had a corporate existence, no car then ran through from Boston to New

York, unless said car was hoisted aboard ship at Stonington, which seems unlikely; though later

records of the 1840 sinking of the Lexington indicate that “baggage cars” were carried aboard ship. Harnden had arranged with the railroads to have the use of a special package car, and opened offices

at either end of his daily run. He even hired messengers to carry packages on railroad lines other

than Boston and Providence or the Stonington. He proposed also to attend to the carriage and

delivery of freight, and in carrying out that project made four round trips a week. Eventually, having

been lucky or foresighted enough to find a niche that needed filling, he extended his business to

Philadelphia and Albany. His idea not only appealed to businessmen but, when he made himself

available for voluntarily carrying news faster than the mails, to the newspapers, which began using

him for that purpose. Postal rates at the time were exorbitantly high, and he even beat out the U. S.

mail by carrying letters.[28]

As his contract with New Jersey Steam Navigation Company neared its year-end expiration date,

Harnden twice wrote president Handy, on 7 and 16 December, asking to renew the agreement. At the

last hour he received Handy‟s letter extending it for one year beginning 1 January 1840. The New Jersey firm took care to publish a notice that all property shipped aboard its vessels was carried at

the risk of the property owner, a notice that, as it turned out, was to do the steamboat operators no

good.[29]

Inevitably, a number of competitors emerged. Alvin Adams on 5 May 1840 initiated an express

route between Boston and New York that competed head-on with Harnden's; this grew into the

Adams Express Company (1854) which lasted into the 20th century before merging with the

American Railway Express Company, later Railway Express Agency. The Earle brothers and other

companies began offering express service via railroad, steamboat and stage. Some even carried gold

from the California mines and were subject to being held up and robbed by highwaymen. The

service expanded to include all kinds of special merchandise that could be handled more safely and

efficiently than in ordinary freight cars. But it was the enterprising William Harnden who in the

public mind earned himself the title "Father of the Express." In Albany, Harnden hired a New

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Englander named Henry Wells as his agent, and Wells went on eventually to become one of the

founders of Wells Fargo and Company.[30]

* * *

Early in 1839 the Boston and Providence Rail Road came under the microscopically close scrutiny

of the Czech-German civil engineer Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner (1793-1840), who arrived in

New York City 15 November 1838 for the purpose of inspecting and reporting on American

railroads. Here was an interesting reversal of the custom of American engineers journeying abroad to

study English and Continental railways. Gerstner, one of Europe's leading authorities on railroad

construction, had been commissioned by the government of Russia to visit the United States, which

with its vast distances, sparse population, difficult terrain, immense timber resources and general

rough-and-ready methods offered a more suitable model for Russian emulation than did tidy little

England.[31]

In a letter written from Boston on 15 January 1839, Gerstner, after remarking that Americans as a

rule preferred "an inferior railroad" on which trains ran at 8 to 12 miles per hour, went on to amend

himself by saying, "The most solid railroads, and which compare best with the European structures,

are those constructed in the State of Massachusetts." At that early date the Bay State already

possessed 364 miles of railroad, of which 166 miles were in operation and the rest under

construction.

He compared the weight and type of rails used on different railroads in a subsequent letter dated

31 March 1839 at Wilmington, Delaware. Noting that the "massive" wrought iron rails used by

Boston and Providence weighed 55 pounds per yard, Gerstner observed that some American roads

used "weak" flat iron bars called "plate rail," weighing only 15 pounds per yard, spiked to wooden

stringers, and on these speed was best held to 12 to 15 miles per hour. He wrote, "All the iron rails,

etc., necessary for the construction of a railroad, may, according to an act of Congress passed several

years ago, be imported duty free. Although flat bars are rolled in several American iron works, the

English iron is preferred here on account of its lower price." [32]

Commenting on the "very low" costs of track maintenance on Boston and Providence, which

thanks in part to the excellence of the iron rails designed by William Raymond Lee, averaged only

$282 per mile for the three years 1837 to 1839, Gerstner reported that for purposes of track upkeep

the line, including the Dedham Branch, was divided into two 22-mile departments each of which

was under the charge of a supervisor whose salary was $800 a year and whose job it was to maintain

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the track in good and safe condition. Once a month the supervisor reported to the general

superintendent, specifying what materials were needed and for what purpose and explaining in what

way the old materials were decayed or destroyed. The supervisor was also required to act as an

inspector of bridges and to make sure that their fastenings were tight.

Each of the two departments in turn was divided into two divisions, and in charge of each division

was an overseer – we would call these "divisions" sections and the overseer a section foreman –

whose wage was $1.75 a day. The overseer had under him a carpenter at $1.25 to $1.37-1/2 and four

laborers at 75 to 87 cents a day. Track repairs in 1839 came to $8604.[33]

By now, to handle the growing suburban traffic as well as to prevent another head-on collision like

the one in 1836, the railroad had installed double track for 1.6 mile between its Boston terminal and

Roxbury.[34]

The Roxbury shop of George S. Griggs, as Gerstner saw it, consisted of an engine shed 65 by 40

feet. The locomotive tenders were filled from a water tank in the shed, then the engines were run up

a spur track to the woodshed, where a circular saw driven by a horse on a treadmill cut the

cordwood[35] to length to fit in the tenders (on most railroads this was 16 inches to two feet).

Gerstner made no mention of anthracite coaling facilities for the one Norris locomotive,

Philadelphia, still on the roster, therefore it must be assumed that either the engine had been

redrafted to burn wood like the rest of the motive power fleet or it had burned wood from the

beginning. In a two-story car repair shop 200 feet by 60 feet, containing four tracks, old passenger

coaches were repaired and new ones built – this was probably the site of Griggs's "kit-bashing"

operation. Sheds and a shop also were in use at the Providence terminal[36]

The Boston and Providence at the end of 1839 had 11 locomotives in service. In addition to

Philadelphia these were Massachusetts (ex-Whistler), Baldwin 1, 2 and 3 and, most likely, Boston,

New York, Providence, Young 1 and 2 and a new locomotive, King Philip, named for a local

Wampanoag Indian chief who in colonial times had been looked on by the English as only slightly

less beastly than Attila the Hun but, as so often happens (we saw it in the case of Chief Black Hawk)

with the soothing passage of the years, had metamorphosed into a noble hero, which probably he

was.[37] The engine named for him was a nine-ton 2-2-0 purchased that year from Locks and Canals

in Lowell; other than its 16-inch piston stroke, nothing is known about the mechanical specs of this

engine, which probably was of the already-obsolescent Stephenson Planet model and was to be the

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last machine purchased by Boston and Providence until 1845. Apparently the railroad was satisfied

that this fleet of engines could adequately handle its trains; but the ongoing financial depression

must also have had its effect in suppressing the road's ability or willingness to purchase new motive

power.

It is unfortunate for us of the 21st century that Gerstner did not identify by name the engines he

saw on Boston and Providence property, as he did with some other roads he visited, but the fact that

he observed one locomotive "from Stephenson in Newcastle (England)" is convincing evidence that

the original Whistler had indeed been resurrected from the West Mansfield bog and apparently was

still performing useful work. Besides this, two other English-built engines, Boston of Edward Bury

and New York by George Forrester, were doing their unpublicized daily duty.[38] However the four-

year-old Lowell appears to have followed Tiot and Neponset into oblivion – though the latter was to

be brought back to life later.

And how was this small fleet of motive power (which remained essentially unchanged for the next

six years) employed? Unlike most railroads then operating in the United States, the Boston and

Providence did not scramble passengers and freight together in mixed trains (although the recorded

accident involving sailors riding atop a load of lumber would seem to contradict this – perhaps,

though, the seamen were freight-train-riding hoboes), but ran separate trains for each. This was a

great advantage in getting travelers over the road rapidly without the delays inevitably incurred with

having to stop at wayside stations to load and unload milk cans, pigs and crates of geese or chickens

from (as the Latin Americans call such trains) los mixtos.

Southbound passenger trains left Boston on fixed schedules, but unfortunately the same still could

not be said for all the northbound runs departing Providence. It was the old story: Because the

Stonington and the Boston and Providence railroads now were operated as one continuous single

line, albeit broken halfway by the ferry transfer across Providence Harbor, trains of the latter road

had to await the arrival of Stonington trains, whose departures in turn were tied to the docking of the

night steamboats from New York. And the boats, depending on the weather in Long Island Sound,

were liable to be up to half a day late. Thus the northbound trains of the Boston and Providence

continued to be subjected to a double whammy which could put them on the road head to head with

the trains from Boston at vastly unpredictable times. The management, having been made all too

aware of the dangers of running unscheduled trains on unsignaled single track where there were

obscure curves, had wisely limited its passenger trains to 20 miles per hour, well down from the

unbridled 30 miles per hour or more permitted the earlier runs.[39]

274

Assuming the New York boat to Stonington and hence the train from Stonington pulled in more or

less on time, the northward “Steamboat Train” left Providence each morning at 3 or 4 o'clock. Another train departed Providence at 6 in the evening.[40] And again, perhaps to conform with the

established custom by which boat lines set different fares for different classes of service, the Boston

and Providence, unlike most United States railroads, continued to sell both first and second class

tickets on its passenger trains.[41]

In 1839 “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew bought the Stonington-to-New York

boat line, and in 1840 added four classy new steamers – C. Vanderbilt, Commodore, Oregon and

Knickerbocker – to help carry passengers and freight to and from the Stonington pier. It wasn‟t long before each man took a turn at director and president of Stonington railroad [42]

Through riders in first class coaches paid two dollars for the 42-mile Providence-Boston run,

while those in second class cars were charged $1.50. First class evidently was most popular, for the

railroad operated 26 coaches of that kind, which seated 26 persons apiece; these cars weighed 2.5

tons. But added to these in 1839, so Gerstner reported, the Roxbury shop turned out an unspecified

number of large, six-ton first class coaches seating 52 persons. These, like the double boxes Griggs

had built earlier, featured two four-wheel swiveling trucks that ironed out the "thank-ye-marms,"

frost heaves, wide rail joints, sun kinks and other inequalities in the roadbed (although the Boston

and Providence's track was better than average), making for superior tracking qualities and a

smoother ride. Of second class cars the railroad owned only four, weighing 1.5 tons and seating 30

passengers each. All passenger cars by this time were heated by anthracite coal stoves[43] generally

placed amidships in the car. In addition, 10 baggage cars of 2.5 tons were used in the passenger train

consists.

Boston and Providence operated 50 freight cars weighing from 2 to 2.33 tons. A car held up to 3

tons of freight in summer, but in winter, when oil or grease in the journals froze up and trains were

harder to start and to pull, the load was limited to 2.5 tons. A scheduled freight train left the terminals

at either end of the main line every week-day regardless of the amount of lading put aboard. The

freight charge was 25 cents per hundred pounds.[44] The southbound run leaving Boston pulled out

at 4 in the morning and after a slow trip (by company regulation, freights were limited to 10 miles

per hour, and probably stopped to make pick-ups and set-outs at Readville, Canton, Mansfield and

other points) reached Providence wharf at 10. Here, the contents of the cars were transloaded onto

the ferry and carried across the harbor to the pier of the New-York, Providence and Boston Railroad,

where they were stowed aboard freight cars of that road, this work usually taking until 2 p. m. This

connecting freight train was due to arrive in Stonington at 5, after which it took another three and a

275

half hours to load the goods on board the steamer, which pulled into New York at 7 the next

morning.

Manhattan merchants were happy with this expedited intermodal freight service, which handled

many manufactured items and covered the 218 miles from Boston to New York in only 27

hours.[45] But the repetitive unloading and loading at Providence, though a vast improvement over

what had obtained before, was wasteful of time and manpower, and would be cut short only when

the Boston and Providence and the Stonington joined their trackage in Providence in 1848.

The Boston and Providence with every year that went by made more money, enjoyed a higher net

profit and cut its ratio of operating expenses to operating revenues. Gross revenues in 1839 were

27.5% higher than in 1836. In 1839 the railroad earned total gross revenues of $311,072, while

related expenses were $93,563, for a net profit of $217,509 and a steadily diminishing operating

ratio of 30.2. Revenues of $234,237, by far the highest of seven New England roads listed by

Gerstner, were derived from carrying passengers, $72,939 from freight and $3896 from other

sources. For track maintenance $8604 was spent in 1839, and $19,467 (again the highest) for repair

of locomotives and cars, while all other operating expenses came to $65,492. The ratio of gross

revenues to expenses was 100:30, lowest of the seven; gross revenues as a percentage of

construction costs 16.7%; and net income as a percentage of construction costs 11.7%, the highest of

the seven New England roads. Carrying the United States mail now brought the railroad $3000

during the year. As with the later New Haven Railroad, rents provided yet another source of non-

operating revenue. Shareholders continued to receive two regular four percent dividends per year;

dividends paid during 1839 amounted to $142,560.[46]

The Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company which had built the extension

into Rhode Island, including the movable bridge over Seekonk River and the terminal station, and

also operated the railroad‟s New York steamboat service, received a comparable dividend every year so that its investors and those of Boston and Providence were treated equally.[47]

It was obvious, then, to Ritter von Gerstner and to everyone else that judging by its first three and

a half years of operation, Boston and Providence was a gold-plated money-making concern.

Moreover, if we overlook the Roxbury head-ender in 1836, the 1837 lumber car derailment and a

couple of other mishaps, the road was being run with the stringent military efficiency that came to

characterize all railroad operations in the United States, Germany and elsewhere. It was (as with the

276

Roman Catholic church of the time) a case of absolute authority from the top down and absolute

obedience from the bottom up. A card of strict rules was in effect that specified that (as is the case

even now) the conductor, not the engineman, could dictate the movement of his train, just as the

captain of a ship at sea was in command of his vessel; the engineer, although boss on the locomotive,

could not open the throttle and leave a depot until the conductor told him to. On the footplate of the

engine, it was clear that the fireman would "report to and receive instructions from" (as later

rulebooks liked to phrase it) the engineer, and the engineer in turn reported to and received

instructions from master mechanic George S. Griggs, who ruled over Roxbury shop.

Just as ships at sea are required to observe certain rules in overtaking and passing, so it was on the

Boston and Providence when trains met or passed on single track. Rules like these, immensely

amplified and more complicated but also far better reenforced by signals and other safety backups,

are still in effect on today's railroads.[48]

Meanwhile, the Taunton Branch Rail Road also splurged on a new locomotive in 1839. This was

Rocket, built by Lowell Locks and Canals (their construction number 45)[49] and named probably

after Stephenson's famed pioneer machine. With Taunton Branch's second engine, New Bedford,

already gone, this once again left the little road with only two locomotives to power its trains, the

other being the line's first engine, Taunton. It is likely that on the short, curveless, gradeless line

these two little Planet types performed satisfactorily enough – both engines appear to have served for

close to fifty years! It may also be that the New Bedford and Taunton connection allowed that road's

engines to be run through to Mansfield.

Gerstner noted that the Taunton road owned "the necessary passenger coaches and freight cars to

handle traffic with Boston and Providence." Under an agreement, the latter line, like a good big

brother, carried passengers between Mansfield and the two state capitals in Taunton Branch

passenger coaches and freight cars but using Boston and Providence motive power and crews, a fact

that demolishes the notion that the two roads were not joined by a switch at Mansfield. The Branch

collected tickets and freight charges for the whole distance, and at the end of each year remitted to

Boston and Providence 50 cents for each passenger and a dollar per ton of freight to pay for the use

of the larger road's track and locomotives.[50]

In January 1839 William A. Crocker, president of the Taunton Branch Rail Road, who also was

contractor on Post Route 299 from Boston to Taunton, had obtained approval of the Committee on

the Post Office and Post Roads to have the railroad between those places deemed a “post road.” This approval was consistent with the federal government‟s 1838 ruling that all railroads could be considered as post roads. As a result, not only did the railroad receive money for maintaining a post

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road but Crocker personally raked in money for carrying the mails.[51]

And as if to keep the southeastern Massachusetts railways from getting swellheaded, on 1 October

1839 the new Western Railroad, forerunner of the Boston and Albany, commenced running two

scheduled passenger trains a day from Worcester to Springfield.[52]

NOTES

1. Belcher 1938: no. 4, who says "the Boston & Providence Railroad & Transportation company," but I suspect the

city names should be reversed.

2. C. Fisher, Sept. 1938: 71; White 1981: 37; Swanberg 1988: 520. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 651) writes that "eight-

wheel coaches first appeared in 1834 on the Baltimore & Ohio. They were invented by a mechanic that was employed by

the company at the time, Ross Winans. The advantages that were decisive in favor of their introduction were as follows.

They move more easily and evenly on curves and uneven track, in that their trucks accommodate the unevenness without

having an effect on the coach body. They are safer in that no danger is entailed by the breaking of one axle [as two

motors on an airplane are safer than one]. Also, only with great difficulty, in fact almost never, do they derail. They can

be designed to have any length desired without thereby increasing the friction of the wheels on the rails in curves."

Gerstner (op. cit.: 833) adds the footnote, "Often, and on many American railroads that have 8-wheeled coaches, the

locomotive has left the rails without taking coaches with it. This is because the weight of the latter was sufficient to resist

the pull of the engine. This has also been the case in collisions, severe jolts, and the like." Eight-wheel cars in use on

B&O in 1838 seated 48 passengers. Probably the first eight-wheel freight cars were those used on Bryant's Granite Ry.

3. White 1978.

4. Dorchester Atheneum 2005.

5. An advertisement for railway express service placed in two Boston newspapers between July 1839 and the end of

that year refers to “the mail train, daily,” operating between Boston and Stonington (U. S. Supreme Court 1848). This train evidently carried storage mail in sacks, probably in baggage cars, without staff being assigned. The first dedicated

railway mail car to accommodate staff appeared about 1838, but I do not know on what railroad. It appears that neither

the Post Office Department nor the railroads carrying the mails placed cars that were in effect post offices on wheels

until the late 1850s. In 1838 the New York to Boston (or vice versa) postage for a single folded sheet was 10 cents.

Envelopes did not come into general use until about 1845 and stamps until 1 July 1847. The use of envelopes, plus the

availability of an acceptable postal balance, enabled postage to be based on weight rather than the number of sheets

mailed (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2006).

As early as 21 Mar. 1836 a resolution of the U. S. Senate directed an inquiry “into the expedience of authorizing permanent contracts to be made for the transportation of the mail with the different railroad companies, or such of them

as may be willing to make contracts for that purpose, upon such terms, and under such restrictions, as may be prescribed

by law,” and to whom the bill “to authorize contracts for carrying the mail and public property upon the railroads” was also referred (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2006). I do not know the results of this inquiry.

278

6. Holbrook 1962: 12; Hopper 1997.

7. Canton Hist. Soc., undated.

8. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 326, 328, 330. In another place Gerstner (op. cit.: 366-9, tables 3.15, 3.16) lists figures

which I have to assume include the Dedham Branch; he gives annual traffic after three years of operation as comprising

109,000 passengers and 13,000 tons of freight; fare charges per passenger-mile 4.55 cents; freight charges per ton-mile

11.76 cents (the highest of any of the seven New England railroads listed); number of miles covered by trains 120,000

(again the highest by far of seven roads); gross annual revenues from passengers $208,227, from freight $64,272, from

"other sources" $3,191 (for some reason lower than his other figure) for total gross annual revenues of $275,690; income

per mile traveled $2.30; income per route-mile $6,564; gross income as a percentage of construction costs (somewhat

above the average of the seven roads) 15%; annual operating expenses $118,459; net annual income $157,231; ratio of

gross income to operating expenses 100:43; operating expenses per route-mile $2,821; net profit per route-mile $3,744;

net profit as percentage of construction costs 8.05%, the second highest of seven roads listed; operating expenses per

mile traveled 99 cents, transport costs per passenger-mile $1.99; transport costs per ton-mile $5.00, considerably the

highest of the seven roads.

9. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 327-329. Although Boston & Worcester engines for the most part burned wood, some of

their locomotives performed better with anthracite coal, getting 56 miles from a ton at a cost of 12.4 cents per mile

(White 1968-79: 78). Apparently all the early Boston & Providence coal-burners had been scrapped or converted to

wood.

10. White 1968-79: 84-5. The visiting British geologist Lyell noted in Nov. 1841 that timber was "beginning to grow

scarce in New England, where coal is dear" (Lyell 1845: v. 1, p. 127).

11. Crude petroleum from which lubricating oil could be distilled cheaply and in quantity was not produced from the

earth in the U. S. until 1859. In the 1830s expensive sperm whale oil or olive oil, or palm oil imported from West Africa,

were used as lubricants, hence the constant concern about cost. Before long, cheaper substitutes in the form of animal

stearine and lard oil became available.

12. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 328.

13. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 369.

14. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 71; Edson 1981: xvii. This list agrees with the U. S. Treasury Report of 1838 as given in C.

Fisher (1943-98: 9), with the one exception that the Report uses the name Whistler instead of Massachusetts. All engines

are listed as 30 horsepower. Gerstner (1842-3/1997: 328) says Boston & Providence had 10 locomotives in use in 1838,

but does not name them.

15. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 328-9, q.v. for many more detailed operating statistics.

16. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 32; NHRAA 1940-52; NYNH&H Aug. 1943: 2; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6. This

short-lived company must not be confused with the two later Old Colony Railroads formed 16 Mar. 1844 and 27 Mar.

1872; the last of these eventually covered much of southeastern New England and gobbled up Boston & Providence.

17. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331. As is the case with his Boston & Providence statistics, Gerstner (op. cit.: 366-9:

tables 3.15, 3.16) gives us a set of seemingly conflicting figures (perhaps confused by joint operation with the larger

road) for Taunton Branch: Annual traffic 45,000 passengers, 7,500 tons of freight; passenger fares 4.55 cents per

passenger-mile, freight charges 7.32 cents per ton-mile; number of miles covered by trains 15,000; gross annual revenues

from passengers $22,500, from freight $7,500, from other sources $1,622, total $31,622; income per mile traveled $2.11;

income per route-mile $2,875; gross income as a percentage of construction costs $12; annual operating expenses

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$13,318; net annual income $18,304; ratio of gross income to operating expenses 100: 46; operating expenses per route-

mile $1,859; net profit per route-mile $1,664; net profit as percentage of construction costs 7.0%; operating expenses per

mile traveled 89 cents; transport costs per passenger-mile $2.02; transport costs per ton-mile $4.00. I am not clear

whether these figures apply to 1838 or 1839; Gerstner says "Years in operation 3," which suggests mid-1839, but

includes the data with the figures given for B&P after three years' operation, which would be mid-1838.

18. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 369.

19. C. Fisher 1943-98: 12.

20. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6-7.

21. Grinnell was born in New Bedford 17 Nov. 1788, died in New Bedford 7 Feb. 1885 and is buried in Oak Grove

Cemetery. He was a merchant and was elected as a Whig representative to the U. S. congress, where he served 1843-51.

In 1840 he became a director of Boston & Providence R. R. and from 1841 to 1846 served that road as president. After

resigning that office he continued as a B&P director until 1863 (Biographical directory of the U. S. congress).

22. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 332, 786.

23. Thoreau, Journal 25 Dec. 1854.

24. This idea was not original with Brigham. Before this, in 1835, Silas Tyler was carrying packages in a four-

wheeled car hitched to Boston & Lowell passenger trains (Harlow 1946: 405).

25. Harlow 1946: 406).

26. Harlow (1946: 406) says Harnden for the first several months went by way of Worcester.

27. U. S. Supreme Court 1848.

28. McAdam describes the last and fatal voyage of Lexington from New York on 13 Jan. 1840 (courtesy of A. M.

Levitt 2005).

Private carriers of mail (letters, newspapers, etc.) flourished from the early 1840s until about the 1880s, when the post

office asserted its monopoly on mail transport. Harnden used a boxwood stamp on envelopes to indicate his firm‟s involvement in transport of the item. Other private carriers who used the trains and steamboats were Bigelow‟s Express (1848-51) by which L. Bigelow carried mail from Boston to points in New England; Fiske & Rice‟s Express – Fiske and

Rice purchased Bigelow & Co. in 1851, including their contracts with the Boston & Worcester, Fitchburg, Nashua &

Lowell, and Rutland & Burlington railways; and W. Wyman, Boston, 1844, established to transmit between Boston and

New York but later extended to forward letters to “nearly all the principal cities and villages in the United States where any independent mails are sent.” Wyman‟s address (8 Court St., Boston) was the same as Harnden & Co. and no doubt cooperated with the older firm (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005).

29. U. S. Supreme Court 1848.

30. Van Metre 1926-56: 326-8; Attleboro Sun 19 Feb. 1938; NYNH&H Aug. 1943: 9; Harlow 1946: 405-9; Beebe

and Clegg 1952: 331, 333; Lacour-Gayet 1969: 60.; Barrett 1996: 195, Appletons Encyc. 2001. A. M. Levitt (pers.

comm. 2006) has found “acceptable evidence” (i.e., photos of letters with U. S. postmarks and Harnden‟s indicia) that Harnden, in addition to offices in Boston and New York City, had offices in Liverpool, Eng., and Canton, China!

Harnden, who was born in Reading, Mass., 23 Aug. 1813, died too young of overwork in Boston 14 Jan. 1845. A

monument erected over his grave in Mt. Auburn Cemetery near Boston by the "Express Companies of the United States"

refers to him not altogether accurately as the "Founder of the Express Business in America." His company outlived him.

On 25 Feb. 1847 Harnden & Co. had an express office at 8 Court St., Boston, used also by Leonard's Boston &

Worcester Express, which advertised they would forward packages to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford. By 1848

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Adams & Co.'s Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore Express maintained one of its 10 offices next door to or

across the street from Harnden's at 9 Court St., Boston, and would "forward Goods, Parcels, Money, &c., and make

collections in Norwich, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburg [as it was then spelled], and St. Louis, with the

utmost promptitude, giving all possible care to all and any kinds of business of the above description entrusted to them."

Harnden's great rival Alvin Adams was born in Andover, Vt., 16 June 1804; died Watertown, Mass., 2 Sept. 1877. The

development of the American express business is too involved and lengthy to be covered fully in this monograph, but

Harlow (1946: 405-9) has a complete account of all the New England express operators.

Thoreau (Journal 27 Jan. 1858) tells of a box of geese arriving at Concord by railway express, and on 29 Aug. 1857

even mentions the names of the local expressmen.

These endeavors of Harnden and others may have been linked to the railroad‟s worries about the illicit shipment of gold and silver, and possibly to Providence postmaster Gen. Mallett‟s concern for the mails (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2005).

31. Gerstner's basic fact-gathering on Boston & Providence, Taunton Branch and other railroads as well as canals

throughout the eastern part of the country and in the south was finished well before he died prematurely of pneumonia in

Philadelphia on 12 April 1840. His labors were completed by his deft assistant, Ludwig Klein, who published them in the

German language in 1842-43. An English translation of this invaluable survey did not appear until 1997. While in

Massachusetts, Gerstner met and was instructed by B&P chief engineer William Gibbs McNeill and by George W.

Whistler, whom he styles "Major" (Gamst, ed. 1990: 19).

Gerstner had built the Danube-Moldavia line in Europe, and also Russia's first railroad, between St. Petersburg and

Tsarkoe Selo, in 1836-37, and proposed to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia a 20-year monopoly on construction in that country

(Kay 1974: 76).

It is well, I think, to take note of A. M. Levitt's precautionary comments on Gerstner and his work in the United States.

Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) writes: "I am not convinced that all we read in the translations of Franz Anton Ritter von

Gerstner's 'German' opera reflects exactly just what he wished to convey via his pen. First, he wrote in the Austrian

dialect (not in German), and many idioms, technical terms, as well as a considerable number of words do not have the

same meanings as the exact same word in German. . . . I have approached a few scholars who specialise in translating

into English technical materials written by Austrians. They stand in one voice in believing that to-day we are very

unlikely to be able to determine exactly what Herr Franz Anton . . . meant in all instances in his early-nineteenth century

writings." But as a former draftsman, I would note that drawings are a clear universal language, and those contained in

Gerstner‟s plates certainly cannot be misinterpreted. 32. Gamst, ed. 1990: 31, 45-6.

33. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 329-30. Note the come-down in laborers' wages from the days when the railroad was

under construction!

34. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

35. Thoreau (Journal 18 June 1853, 15 Jan. 1857) describes a Fitchburg R. R. open-sided woodshed at Concord

depot where several men cut wood for the engines by means of a machine-driven saw powered by a horse walking on a

treadmill. Thoreau found it painful to see that the horse, when released from his labors to graze along the road, "at each

step . . . lifts his hind legs convulsively high from the ground" as if still on the treadmill.

36. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324.

37. The metamorphosis of King Philip (also known by his original name of Metacom), from whom the 1675-76 New

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England war derived its name, was aided considerably by the wild popularity in the U. S. of the long-running stage play

Metamora; or, the last of the Wampanoags, which debuted in New York in 1829 and starred Caucasian actor Edwin

Forrest in the only slightly disguised role of the Indian chief. In reality Philip was not the last of his race; the last genuine

Wampanoag survived into the 1850s.

38. Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 324) says Boston & Providence owned 11 engines: 1 Stephenson, 1 Bury, 1 Forrester, 2

Locks & Canals, 3 Baldwin, 1 Norris and 2 from New Castle, Del. (Young). George W. Whistler had ended his three-

year association with the Locks & Canals machine works in 1837. See also R&LHS Bulletins 62 and 101 (Oct. 1959) for

Gerstner's B&P roster list (called to my attention by J. W. Swanberg, 2002).

39. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 326.

40. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 335.

41. Dickens interestingly describes a trip on a Boston & Lowell train in 1842: "There are no first and second class

carriages as with us; but there is a gentleman's car and a ladies' car: the main distinction between which is, that in the

first everybody smokes; and in the second, nobody does. As a black man never travels with a white man, there is also a

negro car; which is a great, blundering, clumsy chest . . . . There is a great deal of jolting, a great deal of noise, a great

deal of wall, not much window, a locomotive engine, a shriek, and a bell" (Dickens 1842/1985: 61). Dickens's account

also describes one prototype of that long-time railroad tradition that endured well into the 20th century: the smelly and

mostly male-only smoking car! (See a later chapter for "Negro cars.")

Isaac Stearns also writes (26 Jan. 1842, Buck c1980: v. 2, 561) of a class difference in Boston & Providence fares. A.

M. Levitt (pers. comm. 1999) has acquired printers' invoices dated 1846 for both B&P first and second class train tickets

and first and second class steamship tickets, and adds, "I wonder if the steamship 'customs and practices' (in which two

or more classes of passage were quite prevalent in the United States) were the basis for class-based train travel,

especially if a goodly proportion of the travelers made two-mode trips." First and second class passenger tickets were

sold on the B&P until 1860 (Copeland 1936/56: 65).

On the Stonington railroad (says Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 345), "Very few passengers opt for second-class seats, for

even laborers are minded to pay the additional 50 cents rather than be reduced, as it were, to traveling in a second-class

coach. Consequently it is more and more common for trains to include just one such coach." Here again is proof that

first- and second-class cars were carried in the same train.

The Providence & Worcester advertised in its 15 March 1848 schedule, "No 2d class tickets sold for freight train or

special train," special trains being what we would call commuter trains. The published schedules of the Western R. R. (1

Dec. 1847) and Norwich & Worcester R. R. (26 July 1848) make no mention of second class fares.

42. Turner and Jacobus 1986: 8, 9. The significance of the name Oregon for a steamboat serving New England

waters escapes me. Staten Islander Vanderbilt (1794-1877) made his modest start as the 16-year-old owner of a sailboat

in New York harbor. Before he deserted the shipping business for big-time railroading, he was operating, among other

maritime enterprises, a transattlantic steamer line. “Commodore” was an honorary title. 43. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 523.

44 Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 324-5, 326.

45. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 335. By comparison with this rail-water route, from Boston South Station to New York's

Pennsylvania Station by rail is 231 miles, to Grand Central Terminal 229 miles.

46. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 327, 370-71.

47. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 330.

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48. Gamst, ed. 1990: 19. Gamst ed. in Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 2 notes that Gerstner "cites one of the earliest

American codes of railroad operating rules, for the Boston & Providence of 1838, which was given to him by George

Washington Whistler."

49. Edson 1981: xvi.

50. Taunton Branch revenues in 1839, including those received for the runs between Taunton and Boston or

Providence, came to $58,018.78, of which $40,910.73 derived from passengers and $15,895.10 from freight. Expenses

totaled $35,179.82 (of this, $1397.14 went for track repair), leaving a net profit of $22,838.96 and giving the road an

operating ratio of 60.6. Shareholders were paid a six percent dividend in 1839 (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 331). Another set

of figures for 1839 (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 370-1, table 3.17) which differs considerably from the foregoing and may

exclude the traffic to and from Boston and Providence, though this is not clear, gives the following: Gross revenues from

passengers $25,000, from freight $10,000, from other sources $1,213, total $36,213; total operating expenses $13,374,

including track maintenance $1,397, repair of locomotives and cars $3,152, and all other purposes $8,825; net revenues

$22,839; ratio of gross revenues to expenses 100:37; gross revenues as percentage of construction costs 13.9%; net

income as percentage of construction costs 8.7%.

51. A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2004.

52. Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 359; NHRTIA summer 1975: 5.

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17 – "Jim Crow" rears its ugly head

At the beginning of the fifth decade of the 19th century, Boston, with its population of 84,000, after a

late start remained the railroad capital of the United States.[1] Iron rails radiated in three directions:

northwest to Lowell, west to Worcester and now Springfield and southwest to Providence.

Southbound passengers, once they reached the Rhode Island capital, took a fairly painless ferry trip

across the harbor to the New-York, Providence and Boston station, and thence by train to Stonington,

from which fast, well-appointed steamboats connected to the city of New York.

But every now and then a Titanic comes along to remind us that we must not grow too complacent

about our technical mastery over nature. Some time before 4:30 p. m. on Monday, 13 January 1840,

the elegant steamboat Lexington under Captain George Childs (not the regular skipper) left

Manhattan for Stonington with its usual throng of passengers and a cargo of about 150 cotton bales

many of which were imprudently piled around her single smokestack. Lexington was without

question the Queen of Long Island Sound. After her sale by Cornelius Vanderbilt to the New York

and Boston Transportation Company, her new owners had converted her furnaces from burning

wood to coal, her fires boosted by powerful blowers that created a forced draft. Now the property of

New Jersey Steam Navigation Company, Lexington was acclaimed as the “Fastest Boat in the World.” She was capable of 23 miles per hour, a respectable speed even for a train, although 12 to 14 was normal; her motto, when she handled the night run from New York to Stonington, was “Through by Dawn.”

The weather on the Sound that winter evening was bad, with high winds and seas and a below-

zero temperature. Lexington had been drawn for the run because she was the most powerful boat in

the fleet and it was anticipated she would have no problems on route.

Prior to the voyage, expressman William Frederick Harnden had received from Merchants Bank in

Boston a large number of checks and drafts upon New York, to be collected in specie – hard coin –

and the proceeds transmitted back to Boston. Harnden dispatched his brother Adolphus, whom he

had taken on as the company superintendent, express messenger, and New York agent, to carry out

this two-way errand. So Adolphus stashed $18,000 in gold and silver coins in the “contents unknown” crate aboard Lexington for the water-rail trip to Boston. In addition, he was believed to

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have shipped, probably in the same crate, $70,000 to $80,000 for brokers in “eastern money,” that is, private paper money for eastern banks.

This shipment was still subject to the agreement of 1 August 1839 which stipulated that “the said crate, with its contents, is to be at all times exclusively at the risk of the said William F. Harnden,

and the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company will not, in any event, be responsible, either to him

or his employers for the loss of any goods, wares, merchandise, money, notes, bills, evidence of

debt, or property of any and every description, to be conveyed or transported by him in said crate, or

otherwise, in any manner, in the boats of the said company.” Lexington‟s fateful voyage was a happy one, at least at the start – comedians Charles Eberle and

Harry J. Finn “were making merry,” and Adolphus Harnden, who was openly rumored to have brought on board a large sum in gold, “seemed unruffled by his responsibility.”[2] But around 7:30

that evening, on Long Island Sound, the pilot noticed that the uninsulated iron smokestack, heated

red-hot by the heavily-drafted coal fires in the boat's furnace, had set either the cotton bales or the

woodwork and casings around the stack ablaze. The flames quickly got out of hand (only three fire

buckets could be found), and Captain Childs ordered “four baggage cars” thrown overboard after they were emptied of their contents – whether these were actual railroad cars is not clear. The ship‟s officers and crew followed the old maritime adage, “When in danger or in doubt, Run in circles, scream and shout,” and the order was given to take to the three small lifeboats. It proved to be a

sauve-qui-peut, an early rehearsal for the 1912 White Star disaster: the larger boat as it was lowered

was smashed by the ship‟s 23-foot paddlewheel; the other two, overcrowded with terrified

passengers, capsized in the frigid seas. The Lexington spectacularly burned to her waterline and sank

at about 3 a. m. in 150 feet of water three or four miles offshore.

Only four of the 158 or so passengers and crew lived long enough to drift to land clinging to

floating cotton bales. Because these few did not reach dry ground until Wednesday, two days after

the fire, word of the exact location of the sinking was late getting to New York, and a rescue vessel

dispatched on Thursday found no other survivors.[3] Among the bodies washed ashore was that of

Adolphus Harnden; attached to his corpse was a pouch containing 148 letters.[4] He had last been

seen trapped on the forward deck by the flames, and apparently was one of the last to leave the ship.

Merchants Bank, flying for unknown reasons in the face of the 1 August agreement, chose not to

go after William Harnden, as they could have – perhaps they pitied him as an innocent victim of the

disaster or recognized that he lacked the wherewithal to recompense them for their loss – but instead

on 10 February 1842 they filed a libel against the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company in the

District Court of the United States for the District of Rhode Island for a cause of civil and maritime

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bailment, alleging that Lexington‟s engine, furnace and much other equipment was “imperfect and insufficient” and that her officers and crew were negligent. The bank claimed damages of $25,000, and also asked that the company‟s steamer Massachusetts be attached, which it was. The New Jersey

firm filed their answer in May. On 10 October the District Court held to the letter of the agreement

and ruled that the steamboat company was exonerated from loss, as the risk was Harnden‟s. They dismissed the libel with costs.

Merchants Bank appealed, and the case was bumped up to Circuit Court. Both sides produced a

“vast mass of evidence.” In November the Circuit Court reversed the lower court‟s decision and ruled that Merchants could recover $22,224 plus court costs. Now the Steam Navigation Company

appealed, and the matter went before the Supreme Court of the United States.

The arguments of both litigants were lengthy and detailed, and the case dragged. At the end, the

Supreme Court ruled that under the common law, ship owners were liable for the acts of their ship

masters. If a party placed goods on board and the property was destroyed or damaged “by the perils of the sea,” the ship owner was responsible to the owner of the goods and must pay him their worth. If the ship owner failed to pay, the creditor could file a lien on the ship. Thus the decision of the

Circuit Court stood, and New Jersey Steam Navigation Company were ordered in January 1848 to

pay Merchants Bank full damages plus interest at six percent per annum.[5]

The Boston and Providence and the Stonington railroads were to enjoy happier relations with the

Long Island Sound steamboats when they participated in rushing the latest transatlantic European

news to the New York Herald. Unfortunately the date of this race is not known, but it had to have

occurred after the founding of the North American Royal Mail Packet Company‟s Cunard Line of Atlantic steamships and before the inauguration of telegraph connections between Boston and New

York in 1847. Considerable skulduggery was involved in getting the news to New York. The Cunard

Line, as they were always known, in 1840 began operating regularly scheduled mail service across

the Atlantic, offering weekly departures from England aboard any one of four small wooden steam-

paddle ships named Acadia, Britannia, Caledonia and Columbia. These ships normally crossed the

Atlantic in 11 days, tying up at a wharf in East Boston. Two Boston railroads got into the race,

serving two competing New York newspapers both of whom had imaginative and enterprising agents

in Boston, and two express trains were arranged to bring the European news from Boston to New

York, on the arrival of the Cunard steamer at the former port – one to run over the [Boston and

Worcester and the] Norwich and Worcester road for the Sun, and the other to run over the Providence

and Stonington roads for the Herald. The Cunard steamer was not telegraphed [i.e., signaled] at

Boston till early Saturday morning. The Herald was not then published on Sundays, and

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the Sun never issued a regular edition on that day. If the expresses were run, they would reach New

York about midnight on Saturday. What was to be done? The agent of the Herald determined not to

run his express, but he was anxious for the Sun to enjoy the luxury. So he made his arrangements,

with locomotive fired up, to start the moment the news reached his hands. The wide-awake agent of

the Sun was not to be beaten. The moment the Cunarder touched the wharf at East Boston, he started

with the news for the Worcester depot. . . . On the panting and puffing locomotive jumped the

indefatigable man of the Sun, and with one shrill whistle he was off for New York. The agent of the

Herald, as soon as his plucky competitor was out of sight and going off at the rate of a mile a

minute, had his locomotive run into the engine-house and cooled off. He then went down to the

office of the Mail, published in State Street by Purdy and Bradley, and quietly got out the news and

had it printed on extra sheets, with the New York Herald head. He took several thousand by one train

that afternoon, and sent as many by a messenger by the other regular line. They reached New York

by about six o‟clock the next morning, and the extras were immediately sold to the newsboys. Meanwhile the Sun express had made splendid time from city to city, and there was great commotion

in the Sun office. All was bright and watchful, but quiet, at the Herald establishment on the opposite

corner. There was no news there. “The Herald is beaten!” gleefully exclaimed the happy fellows in the Sun building. But, to their bewilderment, about six o‟clock they heard the cry, “„Ere‟s the extra „Erald! Important news from Europe!” under their very windows. The Sun was eclipsed that

morning.

Thousands and thousands of dollars were spent in these delightful and exciting contests.

Some of this money was apparently thrown away, but none was really wasted. It assisted in

the great development of newspaper enterprise, which has become a leading characteristic of

the American Press.[6]

* * *

If there were tragedies and comedies there were also triumphs. Wednesday, the first day of July

1840, marked the ceremonial opening of continuous rails between Boston and New Bedford. It was

not for nothing that New Bedford acquired the nickname “The Whaling City.” Since 1820 almost its entire business centered around whaling. Five years after the opening of the railroad, New Bedford‟s 10,000-man fleet brought home 158,000 barrels of sperm oil, 272,000 barrels of whale oil and three

million pounds of whalebone, some of which became used as stays in ladies‟ corsets. The New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road, organized in 1838 as a logical extension of the Taunton

287

Branch, was constructed using almost entirely New Bedford resources and money. Stock amounting

to 2505 shares was sold to 205 investors in New Bedford, compared to about 50 shares sold in

Boston and New York. This produced a capital of $293,000.

The city‟s celebration for the new railroad lasted a full day. It commenced with a train leaving

New Bedford for the run to Taunton, completing in 55 minutes a trip that in stagecoach days had

taken five hours. At Taunton (population 7524) this train met with another loaded with politicians

that had come from Boston by way of Mansfield. The Boston train got to Taunton first, so reported

the New Bedford Morning Mercury:

A large company of invited guests went out from Boston about 8 o'clock in the morning, in a train of

new and splendid cars intended for the road, accompanied by a choice detachment of the Brigade

Band, with "pipe, lute and sackbut" harmoniously attuned.

Among the distinguished personages in the company were the governor, the lieutenant governor[7]

and members of the council, the president and clerk of the Senate, the British consul, judges of the

courts, gentlemen of the press and numerous persons connected with the Boston railroads . . . .

At Taunton, the train from Boston halted for a short time, and a most animated interview took

place between the party in the cars and the good people assembled at the depot. The hilarity of the

occasion was a good deal increased by the inspiring music of the band.

When the train from New Bedford arrived in a scene vaguely prescient of the head-to-head

meeting of locomotives at the famed golden spike ceremony at Promontory, Utah, 29 years later, it

was turned; then:

. . . filled with invited guests and citizens and the two trains started nearly together for New Bedford .

. . at a very rapid rate.

It is a beautiful road – wide, smooth, level and remarkably straight . . . . The distance from

Taunton to New Bedford is 20 miles. . . .

By the time the Bostonians and their Brigade Band (including sackbut) clambered aboard coaches

for their return trip the sun was setting gloriously behind the city, preceded by the planets Mars and

Venus and trailed by Mercury and the golden sliver of a new moon. Following this astronomically

auspicious beginning, the New Bedford and Taunton was opened officially for routine business on 2

July[8] under an operating agreement that allowed cars of the New Bedford road to be run through

to Boston by way of Mansfield on Taunton Branch and Boston and Providence trains, though the

interroad schedules were sometimes inconvenient.[9]

288

In what was to become true Massachusetts style, and contrary to predictions, the cost of

construction of the line ran 14 percent over estimates, to $456,441[10] or $22,822 per mile.

Though the extended railroad was good for some it proved bad for others, mainly tavern owners.

The somewhat disreputable Mulberry Tavern on the main street of Mansfield, situated near the site

of the present Methodist Church, which for much of its business depended on merchant seamen

traveling between New Bedford and Boston in search of work, failed when the new railroad was

completed.[11]

To help with the added traffic, the Taunton Branch, which now found itself in the profitable

position of a bridge railroad, acquired one new locomotive in 1840. This was Meteor, yet another

Planet type built by Locks and Canals, construction number 53.[12] In addition to Taunton and

Rocket this gave Taunton Branch a roster of three Lowell locomotives. These apparently served so

well (although Meteor was to be reboilered by Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company[13] in

1851) that, what with engines of the New Bedford road and perhaps Boston and Providence also

operating over their line, the Branch did not buy another unit of motive power until 1848.

* * *

Boston and Providence acquired no new locomotives in 1840. Thus at the end of that year the

corporation probably owned no more than 11 active engines and possibly as few as eight; but

because of uncertainty as to the disposition of the two Youngs and Philadelphia, the period 1840-47

is a questionable one as far as knowledge of the road's motive power goes.

Because the business that developed on the railroads in Massachusetts and elsewhere greatly

exceeded original estimates, and even though expenses overran the estimates in still greater ratio, the

net results of the first few years of operation were so encouraging that railroad construction was

rapidly and perhaps unwisely extended. At the end of 1840, 285 miles of railroad were built and in

operation within Massachusetts, and the same corporations owned and operated extensions into

Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire amounting to an additional 80 miles.[14]

In the 19th century, spring snowstorms came late, and bogged down the lightweight engines. After

dark on 12 April 1841 a very wet heavy snow began to fall and kept up all that night and the

following day. Because the air temperature was mild and the ground unfrozen many of the flakes

melted as soon as they landed, but enough remained to accumulate to a depth of 18 to 20 inches. As

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a result, a train from New Bedford took three hours to make the 20 miles to Taunton.[15]

Railroading in southeastern Massachusetts, having survived its birth and its teething years,

appears now to have settled down into a well-oiled routine. Yet in certain areas there was still room

for improvement. The passenger and freight ferry transfer between the Boston and Providence and

the New-York, Providence and Boston railroads had proved not altogether satisfactory. In 1841,

former New Bedford and Taunton president Joseph Grinnell, after nursemaiding that new railroad

through its initial year and then serving one year as a director of the Boston and Providence, had just

succeeded Josiah Quincy, Jr.[16] as president of the latter road. Grinnell conferred with officials of

the Stonington railroad in hopes of securing a joint all-rail right-of-way connecting the two lines

through Providence. But as the city already was so densely populated that no room could be seen for

a new rail route, a grant for the connection was disallowed.[17] This interchange problem continued

to gnaw at the vitals of both roads for seven more years before being resolved to the satisfaction of

everyone with a rail connection that did away with the cumbersome ferry.

Unwieldy the ferry arrangement might have been, yet at least one passenger, and an eminent one

at that, found the connection so seamless as to be almost invisible. On 14 October 1841 famed

British geologist Charles Lyell described his rail-water trip over the Stonington and the Boston and

Providence railroads:

We came from Philadelphia by New York to Boston, 300 miles, without fatigue in twenty-four hours,

by railway and steam-boat, having spent three hours in an hotel in New York, and sleeping soundly for

six hours in the cabin of a commodious steam-ship as we passed through Long Island Sound. The

economy of time in travelling here is truly remarkable. On getting out of the [Stonington] cars in the

morning, we were ushered into a spacious saloon, where with 200 others we sat down to breakfast, and

learnt with surprise, that, while thus agreeably employed, we had been carried rapidly in a large ferry-

boat without perceiving any motion across a broad estuary to Providence in the State of Rhode

Island.[18]

One can rest assured that the distinguished Britisher traveled by first class aboard both the

steamboat and the trains.

* * *

Mansfield registered another railroad fatality on 12 August 1841 when 24-year-old Thomas

Skinner of that town, the son of Apollos and Sybil Skinner, met an unfortunate death by "falling

from the cars on the B. & P. R. R." at Dedham.[19]

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The East Mansfield diarist and anti-slavery activist Isaac Stearns, then temporarily living and

working in Norton, in January 1842 made an interesting excursion that sheds light on a previously

little known facet of New England railroad practices and leads to some speculations on my part. He

wrote in his diary on the 26th of that month:

P. M. Went to Boston on the evening train of cars from Norton to attend the Meeting of the

Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Expenses as follows:

Fare in cars to Boston .37-1/2 cents

Lodging on night of 26th .25 "

Other incidental expenses .37-1/2 "

Cars to East Foxboro

Homewards on morning of 29th .50 (in Jim Crow)

Loss of time, 3 days 2.00

________

4.00[20]

"Jim Crow?" In supposedly enlightened Massachusetts, the cradle of abolitionism? Gerstner tells

us more surprising news: that in 1839 most free African-Americans in the slave states of the South,

although they could ride in baggage cars for half fare, chose to take seats in passenger coaches,

whereas in the North they were not allowed to ride in the same cars with whites![21] This was the

reverse of what obtained in the South after the Civil War.[22]

Prior to the railroads, black travelers in the supposedly free or at least non-slave Commonwealth

of Massachusetts had been segregated from whites in stagecoaches and passenger vessels. Several

Bay State railroad corporations, including the Eastern Railroad (among the worst in this respect), the

New Bedford and Taunton that opened in 1840 with such overwrought fanfare, and the Boston and

Providence continued this custom by herding blacks into a separate car. This car at first had no

particular name. A letter written in 1838 to The Massachusetts Spy, an abolitionist newspaper printed

in Worcester, referred to it as the "dirt car."[23] But it was not long, probably in 1841,[24] until

Massachusetts gained the dubious distinction of becoming the first state where the term "Jim Crow"

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was regularly used to denote cars employed in this peculiar form of rolling segregation.[25]

In the first six years of the Massachusetts railroads little public notice was given to this custom

nor was it stringently enforced. Then in 1841 came the widely publicized Ruggles case. David

Ruggles was an educated free Negro of New York who had been active in the abolitionist movement,

having helped more than 500 slaves escape to the North by means of the covert town-to-town,

house-to-house smuggling operation known metaphorically as the "underground railway."[26] On a

Tuesday, 6 July, Ruggles boarded one of the regular cars of a New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road

train at New Bedford station with intent of going peaceably to Boston by way of Taunton and

Mansfield. When ordered by the conductor to take himself to the Jim Crow car he refused, was

dragged from his coach by the conductor and several other train employes, his clothing being torn in

the scuffle, and was thrown unceremoniously out onto the depot platform.

In a case made to order for the American Civil Liberties Union had it existed then, Ruggles

promptly brought charges of assault and battery against the trainmen. Before the case could be heard

in court, on 12 July a mass protest meeting attended by prominent New Bedford citizens was held in

that city, at which Ruggles presented his version of the incident, followed by several other speakers.

The meeting adjourned without any resolution being taken, but the next day reconvened to listen to

the report of a committee appointed to investigate the matter. Having heard the report, the attendees

resolved "that as citizens of a free and enlightened community, and descendants of those

Revolutionary worthies who poured out their heart's blood in the cause of our civil liberty, we do

remonstrate in the most solemn manner against those inhuman proceedings as took place at the

railroad depot, in this town on the 6th of the present month, in expelling David Ruggles of New

York, from the car, for the unworthy cause of his having a color which the God of Nature was

pleased to give him."[27]

The trial was heard on 19 and 20 July by Judge Henry A. Crapo[28] in New Bedford court. The

railroad corporation based its case on a regulation issued 1 January 1841 by company agent William

Allen Crocker of Taunton, which read: "Passengers who go in the cars of the Taunton and New

Bedford branch railroad [sic], will take such seats as may be assigned them by the conductor."

Whether the company had segregation of blacks in mind when they issued this rule is not clear, but it

seems likely, because ordinarily, since the seats were not reserved and one was as good as another,

passengers took whatever available seats they chose. The railroad's lawyer claimed the conductor

had pointed out this regulation to Ruggles when he asked him to remove to the Jim Crow car but that

Ruggles refused to move.

Crapo found that there were two pertinent matters: The right of the corporation to issue the

292

regulation; and whether undue force had been used to put it into effect. On the first point, he held

that the railroad was the private property of the company, which therefore had the right to issue any

regulation ensuring the welfare and comfort [sic!] of its passengers provided it was not contrary to

existing state law, which it was not. On the second question, he ruled that undue force had not been

proven, and dismissed the case, finding the defendants not guilty.[29]

Crapo's decision set the Abolitionists on fire. William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator, printed in

Boston, ran a letter from Ruggles dated 24 July stating his version of the trial, under Garrison's

heading, "Lynching in New Bedford, Judge Henry Crapo and Lynch Law."

It was hardly to be supposed that his honor could give an equitable decision in this case – himself

being a stockholder in said company, and therefore rendered lawfully incapable of occupying the

bench of justice under such circumstances. In relation to Judge Crapo's court, I must confess, he

rendered it the greatest farce I ever witnessed. In giving his opinion, he declared his ignorance of the

law in the case, and, of course, adhered to the authority of Judge Lynch.

Garrison commented, "The conduct of Justice Crapo, in giving his legal sanction to the dastardly

assault and battery upon the person of Mr. Ruggles at the New Bedford depot by the conductors of

the railroad train, is in our view, unspeakably atrocious."[30]

The anti-Jim Crow movement ignited by the Ruggles case reached its peak at the beginning of

1842, just at the time Isaac Stearns traveled in a segregated Boston and Providence car to East

Foxborough. (Obviously, if seats in regular cars were forbidden to blacks, the reverse did not apply –

apparently neither the railroad nor anyone else cared if a white man rode in the “dirt car.") A bill to abolish segregated seating was introduced in the Massachusetts General Court but went down to

defeat in the senate.[31]

In the fares paid by Isaac Stearns there are some interesting inconsistencies.[32] If the Jim Crow

car was second class, as was likely, why did the cost of Stearns's ticket over the 21 miles from

Boston to East Foxborough so greatly exceed that for the 28 miles from Norton to Boston? My guess

is that Stearns paid the fare of a fellow passenger – one of the free black attendees at the convention

– whose name he chose not to mention.

And why, since Stearns was working, presumably six days a week, as was then customary, in a

Norton textile factory, after leaving Boston at seven in the morning of Saturday the 29th did he elect

to detrain from his Jim Crow car at East Foxborough instead of riding the remaining seven miles to

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his day's work in Norton? It appears likely that he was accompanied by one or more free Negroes

whose fares he paid and whom he wished to escort to the safety of his or another's house in East

Mansfield – from East Foxborough it was a walk or carriage ride of only two miles along country

roads to Stearns's home.

But who might Stearns's companions have been? The famed orator and journalist Frederick

Douglass (1818-1895), who went from a Maryland slave to United States consul general and

minister to Haiti and once was received by Lincoln in the White House, lived at this time in New

Bedford, and from August to December 1841, in company with noted white abolitionists such as

Garrison and Wendell Phillips, toured southeastern New England, speaking before anti-slavery

gatherings. Isaac Stearns records in his diary[33] that only three months before the Jim Crow

episode, on the evening of 17 October 1841, he had met Douglass in the Reverend Mr. Holden's

church in Norton and heard him lecture.

Douglass had to be cautious in his movements because in the South he was legally classified as a

runaway slave, and although the iniquitous Fugitive Slave law had yet to be passed by the federal

government, he was subject to being kidnapped and returned to his former master by free lance

southern bounty hunters. He generally, therefore, traveled in the company of whites who could

defend him if need be. Local tradition has it that he spent at least one night in the still-existing house

of Captain William Day that faced East Mansfield common.

Is it too far-fetched to speculate, then, that Stearns, on the morning of 29 January 1842, chose to

ride in what one of Douglass's biographers described as the "dirty and uncomfortable Negro car," in

which he seemingly paid twice the regular fare, and to get off in East Foxborough rather than

returning to his temporary abode and his job in Norton because one of his fellow travelers might

have been Frederick Douglass?[34]

In his autobiography (1855/1987: 246-7) Douglass, though he makes no mention of Isaac Stearns,

tells of his own encounters with Jim Crow in New England, one of which differed somewhat from

Ruggles's experience in that at least it had a pleasant ending. This incident occurred on a Boston to

New Bedford train that passed through Mansfield, "and the leading party to it [Douglass wrote] has

since been governor of the state of Massachusetts." (He also was to become State Attorney General,

president of the State Senate and president of the Boston and Providence Rail Road.)

I allude to Col. John Henry Clifford. Lest the reader may fancy I am aiming to elevate myself, by

claiming too much intimacy with great men, I must state that my only acquaintance with Col. Clifford

was formed while I was his hired servant during the first winter of my escape from slavery. I owe it to

him to say, that in that relation I found him always kind and gentlemanly. But to the incident. I entered

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a car at Boston, for New Bedford, which, with the exception of a single seat, was full, and found I

must occupy this, or stand up, during the journey. Having no mind to do this, I stepped up to the man

having the next seat, and who had a few parcels on the seat, and gently asked leave to take a seat by

his side. My fellow-passenger gave me a look made up of reproach and indignation, and asked me why

I should come to that particular seat. I assured him, in the gentlest manner, that of all others this was

the seat for me. Finding that I was actually about to sit down, he sang out, "O! stop, stop! and let me

get out!" Suiting the action to the word, up the agitated man got, and sauntered to the other end of the

car, and was compelled to stand for most of the way thereafter. Half-way to New Bedford, or more,

Col. Clifford, recognizing me, left his seat, and not having seen me before since I had ceased to wait

on him, (in everything except hard arguments against his pro-slavery position,) apparently forgetful of

his rank, manifested, in greeting me, something of the feeling of an old friend. This demonstration was

not lost on the gentleman whose dignity I had, an hour before, most seriously offended. Col. Clifford

was known to be about the most aristocratic gentleman in Bristol county; and it was evidently thought

that I must be somebody, else I should not have been thus noticed, by a person so distinguished. Sure

enough, after Col. Clifford left me, I found myself surrounded with friends; and among the number,

my offended friend stood nearest, and with an apology for his rudeness, which I could not resist,

although it was one of the lamest ever offered.[35]

This train, for reasons unknown, apparently did not carry a Jim Crow car in its consist.

Jim Crow cars continued to be a way of life on those Massachusetts railroads that chose to operate

them for only a short time, until 1842, when the General Court's belated strong opposition to the

odious custom resulted in a bill that was enacted into law the following year. This law decreed that

no railroad corporation in the state should make distinctions in accommodations based on a

passenger‟s descent, sect or color, and further stipulated that any “officer or servant” of a railroad who assaulted a rider in an attempt to remove him from his seat for reasons of ancestry, sect or color

would be jailed for not less than six days or fined not less than ten dollars, and that the corporation

would be liable to the full amount of any damages incurred by the assaulted passenger. Despite this

law, violations now and then continued to occur, but by and large the railroads of Massachusetts

officially ceased their practice of Jim Crow.[36]

* * *

A Boston and Providence timetable, the fifth issued by the railroad, was printed in an unidentified

newspaper of the time. It reads as follows:

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Order No. 5. Boston Office, 14 March 1842

On and after Tuesday, 15 March. the

Passenger and Freight trains will run as fol-

lows: --

PASSENGER TRAINS

From Boston at 7 A.M., 4 P.M., and 5 P.M.

From Providence at 7 A.M., 4 P.M., and on

arrival of the mail from New York.

FREIGHT TRAINS

Leave Boston at 10 A.M. and Providence at

11 A.M.

C. SPAULDING W. RAYMOND LEE

Sup. Reps. Gen. Supt.[37]

This timetable might have been consulted by Charles Lyell at the newly enlarged Pleasant Street

depot[38] when he planned trips first to the island of Martha's Vineyard and then to the South.

However, the rambunctious little state of Rhode Island through which he most likely would have to

ride was then on the verge of a comic-opera civil war called Dorr's Insurrection.[39]

Lyell, in Boston, wrote on 17 April 1842 that "some alarmists assured me that the railway to

Providence, by which I intended to pass southwards in a few days, 'was commanded by the cannon

of the insurgents' . . . ."[40] But fortunately for this traveling Britisher, "Dorr's War," as some called

it, in which the former Boston and Providence chief engineer William Gibbs McNeill had been

commissioned major general of militia by the state of Rhode Island,[41] did not boil over until a

month later, and on 19 April Lyell "set out," avoiding Providence by the simple expedient of taking

the train to Mansfield and then via Taunton to the Whaling City. He wrote, "Travellers who made

this excursion a few years ago complain of being jolted in a coach over deep ruts and huge stones:

now, an excellent railway carried me rapidly to New Bedford."[42]

Returning to Boston from his Martha's Vineyard expedition and apparently having learned that for

the moment all was quiet on the Rhode Island front, on 2 May he boldly started off again, "taking the

railway to Providence, and a steam-boat from thence to New York. . . .

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"We reached Philadelphia without fatigue in less than twenty-two hours, a distance of 300 miles

from Boston, having slept on board the steam-boat between Stonington (Rhode Island [sic]) and

New York."[43]

At the time the Stonington railroad was a going proposition, operating two daily local passenger

trains and one express passenger train each way, plus one daily freight in each direction.[44]

* * *

May 1842 was a "cold and backward" month, with hail and some snow on the 20th, not an ideal

month in which to start even a minor insurrection. The morning of the 21st a hard frost blackened the

new leaves on the trees and killed the coming fruits in the orchards. It must have been a dry month,

too, as often happens in New England, because on the 26th Isaac Stearns wrote in his diary that he

spent "One-fourth day to large fire in woods and plains west [sic] of Rail Road from Winslow's to

Jesse Atherton's."[45] This was more or less the same tract burned over (much to Elijah Dean's

poetic indignation) on 29 October 1836, so that the trees could hardly have had time to begin

growing back after the first conflagration. Although Stearns did not say so, the inference is plain that

this fire, like the other, was started by a Boston and Providence locomotive, a regular spring event

that was to plague track-side communities and farms well into the next century, even after the

supposedly spark-free diesel engines came into use.

The Boston and Providence amended its timetable in June 1842 (another "cold and backward"

month, according to Stearns) by instituting what were called "Dedham Specials"– actually,

commuter runs. These trains left Boston after five in the afternoon for Readville or (as it was also

called) Dedham Low Plain, and intermediate stations such as Roxbury, Jamaica Plains (3.3 miles)

and Toll Gate (4.4 miles, near Forest Hills), making it possible for working people and "business

chaps" who lived no more than 10 miles from the city to commute to their homes.[46]

Religious "camp meetings," sometimes drawing thousands of persons and featuring a great deal of

hymn-singing and spiritual exhorting, were a favorite 19th century pastime. Isaac Stearns attended at

least one such event, going aboard a Taunton Branch train on 10 September 1842 to a Second

Advent camp meeting held near Myrick's, spent that night in Taunton and the next day returned:

"Back to Camp Meeting in cars. Great meeting. Supposed to be 10,000 people. My expense, 62-1/2

cents." After another night in Taunton he returned to the meeting a third time.[47]

In 1843, a Boston and Providence employe named John Davenport, perhaps an engineer tired of

being blasted by wind at speed and pelted by rain, sleet, snow and burning embers from the engine‟s smokestack, rigged up a cab on a locomotive. Officials, however, frowned on the idea, claiming that

engine crews would become loafers if they had such a comfortable place to work, and scoffed, "Next

297

thing we'll be giving them something to sit down on, too." But after a trial period, the brass collars

found in favor of this radical departure.[48]

NOTES

1. And besides (if one believes that impartial observer Charles Dickens) was superior in tone to New York City.

2. McAdam, courtesy of A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 2005, who comments, “The earlier-mentioned „spurious‟ shipment of gold [also] was thought to have belonged to the Merchants Bank!”

3. This ill wind blew somebody good in that it enabled 27-year-old printer and lithographer Nathaniel Currier,

originally from Roxbury and Boston, later of Currier and Ives, to get his start. He and his employer the New York Sun

within three days put out a special edition illustrated with Currier's lithographs of the sinking (the most vivid and

dramatic of these was entitled „Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington”), a coup for both Currier and the paper. 4. Harlow 1946: 406-7. Just as the post office presently loses business to electronic mail, so in those days they lost

it to the early railway express services.

5. U. S. Supreme Court 1848. See also a condensed reference in U. S. Supreme Court, Compania de Navigacion la

Flecha v. Braver, 168 U. S. 104 (1897).

In 1842 Lexington was raised in an attempt to recover the Merchants Bank‟s coins, which were found smelted by the heat of the fire into a solid mass. During this operation the ship‟s hull broke and sank again to the bottom of the Sound. The “eastern money,” being paper, was of course lost forever.

6. Hudson 1873. The New York Herald began in 1835, the Sun, a morning paper, in 1833. The Norwich & Worcester

R. R., also engineered by William Gibbs McNeill, opened in 1840.

7. Governor Marcus T. Morton (1784-1864) was born on a farm on Long Pond in Freetown, Mass., and was

graduated from Brown University in 1804. He commenced a law practice in Taunton in 1807 and by all accounts was a

successful and popular advocate, noted for his common sense and unadorned rhetoric. A Democrat, he was U. S.

representative from the 10th Mass. district 1817-21, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts 1824-25, then served three

times as governor: in 1825 on the death of incumbent Gov. Eustis, 1840-41 and 1843-44. He sat as a judge on the Mass.

supreme court 1825-40, and several times ran unsuccessfully for governor (then a one-year term). The 21st century has

no monopoly on close elections; in 1839 Morton ran against incumbent Edward Everett and won the governorship by

one vote out of more than 100,000 votes cast. He was appointed collector of the port of Boston under the administration

of Pres. Polk. Morton is buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Taunton. Lieutenant-governor of Mass. 1836-43 was George

Hull.

8. Appleton 1871: 2; Copeland 1940b; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 7.

9. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 32; NHRAS 1940-52; Clarkin 1954: 17; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29-31; New Bedford

Mercury and the New Bedford Standard Times 1 July 1990.

10. OFA 1848: 28.

11. Copeland 26 July 1956. The failure of this and other inns, including Harris‟s 1824 Red Horse Tavern in Mansfield, in which I now live, was accelerated by the election in 1838 of a “dry” board of Bristol County commissioners, sounding the death knell of hostelries dependent on thirsty highway travelers for their income.

298

12. Edson 1981: xvi.

13. C. Fisher Apr. 1938: 48, from records of Taunton Loco. Mfg. Co.

14. Appleton 1871: 2.

15. Copeland 1933a.

16. Quincy went on to become mayor of Boston 1846-48. He was respected as an agricultural authority famous for

his typically Yankee advice, "A cow is a machine; you can get nothing out of her but what you put into her; but let us

remember, the better the machine and the better order it is kept in, the better pay we shall get for running it" (Sheldon

1862/1988: 146). This may have been the way he ran the Boston & Providence R. R. as well as the city of Boston.

17. Belcher 1938: no. 4.

18. Lyell 1845: v. 2, p. 105. In the 19th century a “saloon” was not a barroom but a salon. 19. Vital records of Mansfield 1933: 216.

20. Buck c1980, v. 2, p. 561, 572. School-teacher Stearns's arithmetic appears to be incorrect.

21. Gerstner 1842-3/1997: 694.

22. That keen observer of the pre-railroad American scene, Alexis de Tocqueville, may have had one explanation for

this curious anomaly: Because of legally enforceable barriers that operated in the slave states, southern whites did not

worry about blacks becoming their social and economic equals; in the North there were no such obstacles, at least not

officially, and therefore whites, in their minds having more to fear from free blacks becoming their equals, carefully kept

them separate (Tocqueville 1969 ed.: 343). A remark of Robespierre's expresses the Northern point of view: "Men would

rather submit to masters themselves than to see the number of their equals multiplied." Alabama (to name a typical deep-

south state) did not enact Jim Crow laws for railroad passengers until 1891. See the previous chapter's footnotes for

Dickens's comment about a "Negro car" on the Boston & Lowell R. R. also in 1842.

23. Reprinted in Liberator 8, 14 Dec. 1838; 197, in Ruchames 1956.

24. Bell 1998.

25. Wilz 2001: 42. Obviously the expression "Jim Crow" was so common by 1842 that Stearns felt no need to

elaborate on it or explain it. It was introduced into the American language in 1838 from the song and dance routine of

one Thomas D. Rice, a white man who performed a blackface take-off on a character he called Jim Crow, establishing a

precedent for the so-called "minstrel shows" of the next 75 years; his act was known as "Jumping Jim Crow" (Ruchames

1956).

26. Ruggles was secretary of the New York Vigilance Committee, a group organized to protect blacks who had fled

from the South. Although the authorities watched him constantly, he hid escaping slaves and helped them on their way

to freedom. In 1838 he was visited in his boardinghouse by Frederick Douglass, just escaped from bondage under his

original name of Fred Bailey. Ruggles advised him to go to New Bedford, where he would be safer and could find work

in his newly learned trade as a caulker in a shipyard. Ruggles also served as one of the two witnesses at Douglass‟s marriage to Anna Murray, a free black woman, in New York (Humphreville 1968: 64-68).

After Ruggles‟ death, Douglass wrote, “He was a whole-souled man, fully imbued with a love of his afflicted and

hunted people, and took pleasure in being to me, as was his wont, „Eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame.‟ This brave and devoted man suffered much from the persecutions common to all who have been prominent benefactors. He at last

became blind, and needed a friend to guide him, even as he had been a guide to others. Even in his blindness, he

exhibited his manly character. In search of health, he became a physician. When hope of gaining his own was gone, he

had hope for others. Believing in hydropathy, he established, at Northampton, Massachusetts, a large „Water Cure,‟ and

299

became one of the most successful of all engaged in that mode of treatment.” (Douglass 1855/1987: 208n; italics Douglass‟s.) 27. Liberator 11, 24 July 1841: 118, in Ruchames 1956.

28. The Crapo family, which has attained some distinction both in and outside Bristol County, purportedly derived its

name from a shipwrecked French seaman. Washed up on a Massachusetts beach and unable to speak English or

understandably tell his name (except for “Jean”) to his Yankee rescuers, who generally referred to Frenchmen as "frogs,"

he became known as "Johnny Crapaud." One might wish Judge Crapo had been swayed by the memory of his humble

but fortunate ancestor when ruling on the case of the unfortunate Mr. Ruggles. To give the family its due credit, W. W.

Crapo of Dartmouth, Mass., was president of the Flint and Pere Marquette R. R. in Michigan for 18 years, and Henry

Crapo, another descendant of the saved seaman, served for many years as the helpful and competent Bristol County

registrar of deeds at Taunton. The name is pronounced with a long "a."

29. New Bedford Mercury 22 July 1841; Liberator 11, 6 Aug. 1841: 165; in Ruchames 1956.

30. Liberator 11, 6 Aug. 1841, in Ruchames 1956.

31. Ruchames 1956.

32. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 560.

33. Douglass on his flight to freedom came in 1838 to New Bedford, where he supported himself and his family as a

day laborer. In August 1841 he accompanied Garrison to an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket, and for the first time

spoke extempore before a sizable audience. While there, John A. Collins, the general agent for the Mass. Antislavery

Society, persuaded him to become a paid lecturer with the group. For the next three months Douglass, in company with

Collins, traveled throughout eastern Mass. speaking before abolitionist gatherings. Although distinguished personages

like Wendell Phillips traveled with him, Douglass suffered repeated experiences with Jim Crowism on both steamboats

and trains, and in one case when he was banished to the railroad car reserved for blacks, his friend Phillips went with

him. Is it inconceivable that anti-slavery activist Stearns might have done the same?

Douglass (op. cit.: 244-5) tells us in 1855 that the "custom of providing separate cars for the accommodation of

colored travelers, was established on nearly all the railroads of New England, a dozen years ago," which agrees roughly

with Stearns's experience in Jan. 1842, Dickens's 1842 trip and Gerstner's 1839 comment that in the North blacks were

not allowed to ride in the same cars with whites. This may mean, however, only that existing segregated seating began to

be more strictly enforced around that time. The practice did not last for more than a year afterward. Douglass goes on:

"Regarding this custom as fostering the spirit of caste, I made it a rule to seat myself in the cars for the accommodation

of passengers generally. Thus seated, I was sure to be called upon to betake myself to the 'Jim Crow car.' Refusing to

obey, I was often dragged out of my seat, beaten, and severely bruised, by conductors and brakemen."

Such racist behavior could assume ridiculous proportions, as when Eastern R. R. Superintendent Stephen A. Chase,

probably (I regret to say) another distant relative of mine, for several days ordered passenger trains to run through Lynn

without making their scheduled stop because he knew Douglass wished to get on board there.

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34. Stearns' passenger train fares on Boston & Providence, Taunton Branch and the Stonington line between 1836 and

1860 can be summed up "unofficially" as follows:

Date Class From To Miles Fare Per mile

9 Jan. 1836 ----- Mansfield Attleboro 7 .25 .036

9 Jan. 1836 ----- Seekonk Mansfield 17 .75 .044

26 Jan. 1842 ----- Norton Boston 28 .375 .013

29 Jan. 1842 Jim Crow Boston E. Foxboro 21 .50 .024

11 Sep. 1842 ----- Mansfield Myrick's 17 .625 .037

8 Oct. 1845 ----- Mansfield Taunton

(round trip) 22 .40 .018

" ----- Taunton Mansfield

29 Dec. 1845 ----- E. Foxboro Boston 21 .45 .021

" ----- Boston Norton 28 .70 .025

18 Jan. 1860 ----- Mansfield Stonington 69 .90 .013

In all, Stearns traveled 230 miles for $4.95, or 2.2 cents per mile. However, Stearns does not make it clear whether his

Myrick's trip represents a one way or a round trip; if the latter, the mileage for that trip should be doubled to 34, the rate

per mile for that trip becomes 1.8 and the total rate per mile is reduced to 2.0 cents. By comparison, the fares between

these same stations in the 1851 B&P and Stonington timetables consistently range from 2.7 to 3.2 cents per mile and

average 3.0 cents.

One possible explanation for the wide per-mile variations (other than errors in recording) is that some trips were

second class and others first class, or that in the Jim Crow instance Stearns paid the fare of another passenger. On his

New York trip in 1860 he writes that he traveled steerage (apparently for reasons of economy) on the steamboat from

Stonington to New York city, which suggests that he might also have gone second class by train from Mansfield to

Stonington; the per-mile rate of only .013 seems to indicate that, as does the same rate on 26 Jan. 1842. On the New York

trip he had his grandson with him and paid half fare for him on the train. After 1848 there was unbroken through rail

service from Boston to Stonington, the Providence ferry having been eliminated after Providence Union Station was

built.

Some railroads (the Norwich & Worcester was one, according to their 26 July 1848 advertisement) charged a lower

fare when tickets were purchased in the stations than when passage was paid aboard the cars.

A. M. Levitt observes (pers. comms. 1999) that if there was sufficient travel by blacks to warrant separate cars, then

there might have been tickets especially printed for that travel; but in the printers' invoices for Boston & Providence that

Levitt, himself a printer, has seen there is no evidence of it. "Stearns' reportage [Levitt comments] lacks rhyme or reason

[but he] may have recorded the fares as 'expense account items' and included the journeys of others."

I do not know whether "Jim Crow" accommodations equated to second class, or if second class was limited to whites

and the segregated car served as a sort of unofficial third class.

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35. John Henry Clifford was born in Providence 16 Jan. 1809, died in New Bedford 2 Jan. 1876. He was graduated

from Brown University in 1827, studied law, then settled in New Bedford where he built up a substantial practice. He

was elected to the Mass. legislature in 1835. From 1849 to 1853 and again from 1854 to 1858 he served as state attorney

general, and in that role successfully prosecuted Harvard Professor John W. Webster for the murder of Dr. George

Parkman, a notorious case (1850). In 1853-54 he was Mass. governor. In 1862 he became president of the state senate.

Clifford retired from the law in 1867, and from 1873 to 1875(?) served as president of the Boston & Providence R. R. He

received an LL. D. from Brown in 1849 and from Amherst and Harvard in 1853. For several years he was president of

the Harvard board of overseers (Appleton Encyc. 2001). In 1887 the railroad named their locomotive no. 40 for him.

Whether or not his title of “colonel” was honorary (as in “Kentucky Colonel”) I do not know. 36. In 1855 Douglass writes, "After many battles with the railroad conductors, and being roughly handled in not a

few instances, proscription was at last abandoned; and the 'Jim Crow car' – set up for the degradation of colored people –

is nowhere found in New England. This result was not brought about without the intervention of the people, and the

threatened enactment of a law compelling railroad companies to respect the rights of travelers. Hon. Charles Francis

Adams performed signal service in the Massachusetts legislature, in bringing about this reformation; and to him the

colored citizens of that state are deeply indebted." Adams (1807-1886), the distinguished son of Pres. John Quincy

Adams and grandson of Pres. John Adams, served in both branches of the Mass. General Court from 1840-45 and later

the U. S. congress. Pres. Lincoln appointed him Minister to England, where he served 1861-68, during the American

Civil War. His son Charles Francis Adams, Jr., (1835-1915) became Railroad Commissioner of Mass.

As late as 1850, racial equality received a setback when Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw of the Mass. Supreme court ruled

that the state‟s constitution saw nothing wrong with forced segregation of schoolchildren. 37. In NHRHTA Newsletter v. 22, n. 7, 1994; the original given to Attleborough freight agent M. M. Aldrich by

former Boston & Providence R. R. Providence Division roadmaster M. K. Haws.

38. Barrett (1996: 89-90) says the Boston & Providence's Boston station was expanded in 1842, probably by a

lengthening of the train shed to accommodate longer trains.

39. Thomas Wilson Dorr (1805-1854), upset that the state's 1663 constitution restricted voting mainly to landowners,

formed the People's Party which elected him governor at Providence one day before General Samuel King was

inaugurated governor at Newport. On the night of 17-18 May 1842 with 1300 men and two cannons of Revolutionary

War vintage Dorr tried to force the Providence arsenal. When challenged, he pulled the trigger of his musket but his own

men had wet the gunpowder so that neither it nor the cannons could be fired, and the attempted coup and a later one were

repulsed with only two casualties, one of which was a heckler on the Massachusetts side of the state line and the other a

cow. This Central American affair, during which for a time the smallest state in the union had two governments and five

capitals, did have favorable results in that it convinced the Rhode Island legislature to write a new and more equitable

state constitution, which is still in force.

40. Lyell 1845: v. 2, p. 2. The distinguished traveler need not have worried unduly about Dorr‟s two aged field pieces, which had been captured from Gen. Burgoyne in 1777.

41. The information on McNeill's commissioning comes from Canton Hist. Soc., undated. One might guess that

McNeill's sterling services as chief engineer on the Boston & Providence as well as on the Stonington road in R. I.

impressed the governor of the state, or he had made influential friends in Providence, or perhaps it was his firm handling

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of the rum rebellion. Neither could his West Point background have proved a hindrance.

42. Lyell 1845: v. 1, p. 256.

43. Lyell 1845: v. 2, p. 5, 6.

44. Babcock 1922.

45. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 574. Stearns meant to write "east of;" Atherton lived in the northern part of East Mansfield.

The comment on May weather is dated the 27th.

46. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29.

47. Buck c1980: v. 2, p. 576. Note that the fares paid by Stearns are in multiples of the "New York shilling" of 12-

1/2 cents.

48. From an article entitled "Cabs" in a Railroad Magazine of 1943; I no longer have the magazine, but found

reference to this early cab in a letter written to me by my father, Harry B. Chase, in Sept. 1943. As early as 1833 officials

(whether in England or America is not clear) began to take pity on exposed engine crews by fixing up some sort of

protective cab for them. An engineer of the Western R. R. in Mass. in 1841 erected a tarpaulin over his engine to shield

himself from "the vagaries of weather in the Berkshire Hills." The Baldwin engines delivered to Boston & Providence in

1836 are alleged by one writer to have been equipped with small cabs; if so, the idea apparently failed to catch on. The

Philadelphia & Reading is said in the Railroad Magazine article to have been one of the first American roads to begin to

make cabs comfortable and livable. By 1855 their use was universal on all U. S. railroads (White 1968-79: 222).

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18 – Not even a hog could get through Providence

In 1843 the stark depression following the Panic of 1837 eased slightly, with the result that in the

following year the Boston and Providence Rail Road had net earnings of $172,590, and after paying

a dividend of 3-1/2 percent in July, a balance to credit of income of $72,402 remained.

Plans were afoot in that year to build a railroad connecting Boston with Woonsocket, Rhode

Island (population 4000), a recently developed mill town and the most important in the Blackstone

Valley between Providence and Worcester, situated less than a mile south of the Massachusetts line.

Mansfield was to be involved with one of the proposed routings – the road from Woonsocket would

connect with the Boston and Providence in that town. An alternative plan was to connect

Woonsocket with the Boston and Worcester at Framingham, Massachusetts. For whatever reason,

neither of these projected railroads materialized.[1]

On 14 March 1844, at the welcome end of another bitterly cold winter, an important and (despite

its name) officially independent road, the Fall River Branch Railroad Company, was chartered with

authority to construct a line from Fall River to a connection with either the Taunton Branch at

Taunton or the New Bedford and Taunton at Myrick's; in the end, the latter place was chosen for a

junction.[2] This enlarged the growing web of interconnected railroads in southeastern New

England, all of which tied directly or indirectly to Boston and Providence, and once it got into

service it would add to the passenger and freight business of the connecting lines, providing Fall

River residents with an easy rail route to Boston via Mansfield, which fast was becoming the most

important junction in southeast New England.

A different story from the two Woonsocket failures was the Stoughton Branch Rail-Road

Corporation, chartered 16 March 1844[3] by the Massachusetts General Court and authorized to

build a line "from a point at or near the depot of the Boston and Providence Railroad in Canton;

thence to some convenient point in the Village of Stoughton," which had a population of 2062 and

over the past ten years had made a mark in the manufacture of shoes. On the same date an operating

pact was concluded with Boston and Providence by which the Stoughton Branch, though chartered

independently, was to be operated by the larger road, which would supply the rolling stock and take

care of maintenance of way and for their troubles receive certain tolls and a percentage of the

receipts.

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Capital stock having been subscribed to the tune of 400 shares at $100, the Stoughton Branch

Rail-Road Corporation was organized 28 May 1844 by the election of seven directors, who chose as

president Paul Revere‟s grandson Frederick Walter Lincoln and as treasurer James Dunbar, both of whose offices were in Canton. The directors also picked an agent and a clerk, and shortly afterward

an engineer. Lyman Kinsley, owner of Kinsley Iron and Machine Company in Canton, became one

of the incorporators. The depot agent at Stoughton was Jesse Holmes and the Boston agent Daniel

Nason, who later became a distinguished Boston and Providence officer.

Previous to 28 May, so reads the February 1845 report of the directors,

the route had been resurveyed, and soon after the road definitely located. It diverges from the Boston

and Providence Rail-road at the Canton depot, passes about 200 yards to the east of Kinsley‟s forge; crosses the upper end of Francis Bisby‟s (forge) pond; passes about 100 yards to the east of the widow Polly Bird‟s house; and terminates in the rear of the orthodox meeting-house, in the village of

Stoughton, being just over four miles in length. The steepest ascent is 45 feet per mile [0.85%], and the

curvatures, except those at each end of the road, not less than 1830 feet radius [about 3.1 degrees].

Immediately, after their election, the directors took measures to have the construction of the road

commenced forthwith, and placed it under contract to responsible individuals, who expected to

complete it by this time, but it is not probable that it will be finished before the first of March. About

three miles of track, besides a turnout at Stoughton and one at Canton, have been laid down, similar in

materials and dimensions to the track on the Boston and Providence Rail-road. A depot at Stoughton

and one at Canton are nearly ready for use.

The first estimate of the cost of building the line was $80,000, “but the excess of land damages [being] over the estimate, it is now supposed that the cost of the road will probably be $84,000,” but until all damage claims were settled the final cost remained uncertain.

The amount of subscriptions for the capital stock of the corporation, being but 400 shares or $40,000,

and the estimated cost of the road being $80,000, the directors obtained from the Boston and

Providence Rail-road Corporation a loan of $40,000 . . . .

This amount, evidently in the form of a mortgage to Boston and Providence,[4] was either to be

converted into capital stock or refunded to the larger road in five annual installments plus interest.

Receipts and expenses up to the time of the report were:

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Receipts from stockholders $38,075.00

From Boston and Providence Rail-road 25,000.00

__________

Expenditures have been $63,075.00

Incidental expenses 828.40

Salaries of officers 1,060.00

Graduating [grading], masonry, fencing,

wooden materials for, and laying of track 22,483.45

Depots and turn table 5,520.54

Iron materials for track 26,203.14

Land and damages 2,519.75

Interest 132.46

Cash in the hands of the treasurer 63,075.00

This report was signed and submitted by Frederick W. Lincoln, Simeon Tucker, Israel Tisdale, Jr.,

Lyman Kinsley, Nathaniel Morton, Oakes Ames and Martin Wales.[5] Construction on the new

Branch had begun in the summer of 1844 and the road was opened for traffic 7 April 1845. Much

later an end-to-end connection with the 3.4-mile Easton Branch Railroad was achieved.[6] The

operating contract with the Boston and Providence remained in effect until the Stoughton Branch

was merged into the larger company 4 March 1873.[7]

Canton, whose population at the time numbered about 1960, now, like Readville and Mansfield,

became a junction – the third on the Boston and Providence. A new station built on the branch at

what presently is called Canton, only two thirds of a mile from the junction, was known then as

South Canton. Local residents thought their new depot, which they described unflatteringly as a

"three cornered split box," like the station at Mansfield was built inconveniently far from town[8]

but as had occurred at Mansfield the town grew towards it.

Unlike the railroads already in service, whose receipts derived mostly from passenger fares, the

revenues of the Stoughton Branch were split fifty-fifty between passengers and freight. The reason

became apparent shortly after the branch was completed, when an industrial spur was built from a

right-hand switch just east of South Canton station and Washington Street to serve the growing

Kinsley Iron and Machine works (KIM). Cars of coal and iron ore were set out on the spur track by

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Boston and Providence. Their locomotives then were uncoupled in favor of ox teams, which eased

the cars down a slight grade to the plant. Outbound loads of wheels, axles, spikes and various iron

products were towed back to the branch by the plodding oxen, of which KIM owned eight, to be

picked up by the main line engines[9]

Some, at least, of the passenger service on the new road was accommodated by a horse-drawn

stagecoach with flanged railroad wheels, in which the Revere family and others rode between the

junction and their mill, the Revere Copper Company[10] Under their contract, the Boston and

Providence beginning in 1845 ran two round trips a day between Stoughton, South Canton, Canton

and Boston[11] in a manner similar to the current local MBTA service, but not, of course, using the

"Revere Coach" on the main line.

Net earnings of the Boston and Providence Rail Road for the year 1844 were $172,590. After

paying a 3-1/2 percent dividend in July, a balance to credit of income of $72,402 remained.

* * *

When someone for the first time lays out an unobstructed dead straight line across country for

more than 16 miles, as McNeill did for Boston and Providence, somebody else is bound to come

along and find a use for it not anticipated by the original surveyor. The promoters of the line-of-sight

telephore had recognized the advantages of this rare tangent cleared through woods and swamps and

so did the company that later installed the telegraph, although of course telegraph wire did not have

to be strung in a straight line. Now, prior to or during 1844, along came the United States Coast

Survey[12], which used a large-scale method of measuring the surface of the globe known as

triangulation. It was based on the simple principal that if the length of one side of a triangle, no

matter how long, is known, the location of a third point visible from the two ends of that line can be

determined with great accuracy provided sufficiently precise means are used to measure the one

known length – the base line -- and the two angles.

The Coast Survey envisioned the Boston and Providence Rail Road track from the East

Foxborough point of tangency to the Rumford, Rhode Island, point of curvature, or at least a part of

it, as the base line of a very large triangle. Once a third point was chosen, and the triangle was

established on the ground with sufficient accuracy, its three sides could be used to map by extension

– by adding a chain of triangles upon triangles, or even polygons, to form a net – the coast of

southeastern New England. To facilitate measuring the angles the Survey engineers built a tower on

the outer or east side of East Foxborough curve (now known locally as Bleachery Curve), a tapered

timber framework 20 feet high, six feet wide at the base and two feet at the top, aligned exactly with

307

the straight track. Actually it was a tower within a tower; surrounding but not touching it was another

frame structure with an elevated scaffolding for the observers to stand on, so that their movements

would not jar the 30-inch repeating theodolite (an ultra-precise surveyor's transit) mounted on a

circular platform atop the inner tower. A heavy brass plumb bob suspended below the theodolite by a

length of piano wire pointed at a metal pin permanently embedded in brickwork buried in the earth.

A canvas awning protected the surveyors and their instrument from sun and rain, and movable

canvas shields held off the wind.

What was needed next was a matching tower visible from the East Foxborough structure. One

would expect it to have been erected in Rumford, at the southern end of the long straight track. But

the surveyors chose not to utilize the full 16 miles of McNeill‟s tangent, and instead picked a spot (they called it Point “A”) close to the track between the present South Main Street and Thurber Avenue in the Dodgeville section of Attleborough, about 10-1/2 miles from the East Foxborough

lookout. The reasons for choosing Dodgeville rather than Rumford were to keep the base line as

close as reasonably possible to the optimum length of four to 10 miles, so that the initial triangle was

as nearly an equilateral as possible, to avoid the excessive curvature of the earth that would be

introduced by use of a longer line, and the fact that the third corner of the triangle could be seen

from both the East Foxborough and Dodgeville towers but not, apparently, from Rumford.

This third point was established atop Beacon Pole Hill, 547 feet above sea level, in Cumberland,

Rhode Island, about nine and a half miles northwest of Dodgeville and 12-1/2 miles southwest of

East Foxborough. The surveyors called it Point “O”. McNeill and his assistants had measured the length of the tangent closely enough for railroad

purposes, using the 66-foot engineer's chain and portable tripod-mounted transit. But railroad

accuracy was not sufficient for the Coast Survey. They made their linear measurements with bars

eight meters (26.25 feet) long, carefully machined from a stable metal not much affected by heat

expansion or cold contraction. These bars they alternately laid down end to end, not along the top of

the rail, as I would have thought, but, apparently, along the roadbed beside the track, repeatedly

picking them up and relaying them, tediously leapfrogging their way from East Foxborough to

Dodgeville and then back again, over and over, and finally calculating the average of their many

measurements to arrive at the length of the base line. While at it, they also measured an 11-mile

distance southward beside the track from the East Foxboro tower, the longest line measured by the

Coast Survey for decades to come.

Such painstaking “primary” or “first order” work can result theoretically, if not always in practice,

in a linear error of as little as one in a million; in a distance of 10-1/2 miles, an error of about two-

308

thirds of one inch! But because the track between East Foxborough, where the elevation was 201

feet, and Dodgeville, at 112 feet, followed a generally descending grade, the engineers also would

have had to determine levels, so they could adjust the actual slightly-inclined measurement to a

horizontal plane. The leveling party followed close on the heels of the crew that measured the base

line.

The angles were measured by aiming the telescope of the theodolite at an imported device called a

heliotrope, invented by a German, Karl Gauss. The heliotrope, equipped with a telescope, two sights

and a mirror, had to be shifted every four minutes or so, to follow the movement of the sun. It

projected a narrow, reflected beam of sunlight which at the other tower miles away, even through

haze, was visible to the observer as a precise bright point. And just as the linear measurements were

repeated and averaged to attain great accuracy, the general practice was to repeat the angles many

times, inverting and reversing ("plunging") the telescope halfway through the operation to cancel out

any small imprecision in the inner workings of the theodolite.

Communication between the Dodgeville and East Foxborough towers probably was by means of

keys and receivers cut into the new telegraph line, though in a pinch an observer could signal in code

by intermittently obscuring the light from his heliotrope with a card or a shingle; the latter method

no doubt was used to “talk” with Beacon Pole Hill.

The East Foxborough surveyors also took an 11.6-mile shot at Great Meadow Hill (elevation 264

feet) in Rehoboth. Other stations based on extensions of the original triangle were set up atop Blue

Hill (685 feet) in Milton, the northernmost point of the survey, and Copicut “Mountain” (354 feet) east of Fall River. Because the purpose of the survey was to accurately define the New England

coastline, the net was carried as far south as Cuttyhunk Island lighthouse and Indian Hill on Martha‟s Vineyard, to several other points in Rhode Island and eastward by means of a 47-mile sight from

Beacon Pole Hill to a tower on the Atlantic shore at Manomet, in Plymouth.

The Boston and Providence base line was surveyed between 11 September and 28 November

1844, under the supervision of an experienced Coast Survey man, 45-year-old Edmund M.

Blunt.[13]

* * *

Mansfield historian Jennie Copeland wrote, "In every enterprise there is usually one name that

stands out prominently. In the railroad history of Mansfield that name is Paine." The Paines were

long established in the town. The first Paine in the New World arrived at Boston in 1635 and the first

in Mansfield, William Paine, came to that locality, where he bought 87 acres of land from my

ancestor Deacon Ephraim Grover, in 1703, long before the town was named or even recognized (it

309

was then part of Norton) or such a thing as a railroad was dreamed of.

From the mid-1800s until the early 20th century the Paines comprised what was called a "railroad

family." At least nine members, spread over three generations, spent most or all of their working

lives in the employ of the Boston and Providence or its successor roads. Progenitor of the railroad

Paines was Nelson, who went from cobbler to Mansfield baggage master, a position he held until his

death. Nelson Paine had three sons all of whom went a-railroading in the early years; each of those

in his turn raised a son who became a railroader. And as if that was not enough, Nelson's daughter

Mabel had two boys who grew up to be railroad men. Not for them Elijah Dean's ranting against

anything to do with the Boston and Providence!

It was in 1844 that Nelson Paine's number one son, a stocky 15-year-old named Frederick to

whom all the world must have seemed young and filled with promise, went to work for Boston and

Providence sawing cordwood into stove lengths so Mansfield agent Jim Greene could heat the depot

and general store. He was paid 25 and 50 cents a cord. Miss Copeland writes in 1936 that as far back

as anyone could remember there had been a woodpile at Mansfield station. Young Fred next

progressed to sawing wood for the engines, which until about 1854 or '55 consumed great quantities

of wood fuel, requiring 200 or more cords to be stacked west of the track where later the Mansfield

roundhouse stood and extending south halfway to a point opposite the station.

In his early twenties Fred Paine temporarily abandoned the railroad and went to work as a

stationary engineer in a straw hat shop in Foxborough and later in William Waite's basket shop. But

the call of the iron rails was too strong to resist, and returning to work in Mansfield, he advanced

step by step to switchman, watchman, locomotive fireman (before 1854) and engineer. In 1856 he

married, and was allowed with his bride to set up housekeeping on the second floor of the old depot.

When Jim Greene died prematurely in 1859, Fred Paine stepped into his shoes and became station

agent and manager of the popular depot restaurant.

During the Civil War, when Boston and Providence was cut off from its wood supplies in the

South and reverted to using local fuel, the enterprising Fred Paine bought the wood, hired men to

saw it and sold it to the railroad. A familiar figure in middle age with his tall black silk hat screwed

firmly atop his head, he survived two management changes (Boston and Providence to Old Colony

to New Haven) and spent his last years as caretaker of the old Park Square Station in Boston and

after that the new South Station, until his death at the age of 77 on 25 July 1906.

Fred's father, Nelson Paine, who was the first of his family to work for the railroad, began his

married life in the pleasant village of Foxvale, also known as Paineburg (later, a school there bore

the family name), in Foxborough near the Mansfield town line, where he cobbled shoes. He soon

310

moved to Mansfield, to a house now long torn down on the northwest corner of the intersection of

Central and Chauncy streets that still bears the name Paine's Corner. (The former Paine school now

stands nearby.) He became railroad baggage master at Mansfield, a post he held until he dropped

dead on the job in 1876, and also for many years ran the depot restaurant.

The second of Nelson's sons, Henry N., nicknamed "Hen," started out as an expressman and went

on to become a respected locomotive engineer; he built a house across the street from his father's at

Paine's Corner. A third son, Edward, was railroad telegrapher at Mansfield. Five members of the

third generation of Paines also worked for the railroad.[14]

Other railroad families in Mansfield were the Bayleys, the Bellews and to a lesser extent the

Chases – my grandfather, father, four uncles and at least five in-laws worked for greater or lesser

periods of time for the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford, the Old Colony and the New

Haven Railroads and the Boston and Albany as well as other roads as far away as California.[15]

* * *

On 26 March 1845 the Fall River Branch road became a part of the newly formed United

Corporation, which was chartered on that same date, having been put together from two other

companies, the Middleborough Railroad Corporation and the Randolph and Bridgewater Railroad

Corporation. This new road opened for business from Myrick's to Central Street station, Fall River,

10.8 miles, 9 June 1845.[16] The United, with chameleon-like skill, changed its name to the Fall

River Railroad Company 16 April 1846.[17]

An interstate railroad that became successful was chartered in two parts: the Providence and

Worcester Railroad Company of Massachusetts 12 March 1844 and of Rhode Island 10 May. The

Rhode Island road was organized 20 May. These two companies managed to overcome the obstacle

imposed by the state line to combine end to end and form the Providence and Worcester Railroad

Company 25 November 1845.[18]

Meanwhile, Boston and Providence (like a proud parent), the Taunton Branch and the New

Bedford and Taunton continued to do well; in 1844 the little Taunton Branch paid 8 percent on the

par value of its dividends and the other two lines paid 6-1/2.[19]

As the decade of the 'Forties progressed, more and more travelers deserted the failing stagecoaches

and other older forms of transportation and bought tickets on the trains. In proportion as the number

of railroad riders increased, fares fell from their initial high prices, so that more could afford to "take

the cars." Thus, slowly at first, began the human flight from Boston's crowded and unsanitary

conditions, as its residents found they could afford to live in nearby towns along the railroad where

house lots were more spacious, and commute 10 or 15 miles to their businesses, work or shopping

311

for the same price as they had paid previously for an omnibus trip within the city. On the other side

of the coin, the railroads, with their efficient handling of freight, mail and express, brought about an

increase of business in Boston, and with it a growth in urban employment.[20]

Travel accommodations had improved, too. An anonymous writer of about 1845 notes, "There is

perhaps no mechanical subject in which improvements has [sic] advanced so rapidly, within the last

ten years, as that of railroad passenger cars. Let any person contrast the awkward and uncouth cars

of '35 with the superbly splendid long cars now running on several of the eastern roads, and he will

find it difficult to convey to a third party, a correct idea of the vast extent of improvement." The

writer goes on to comment that "some of the most elegant cars of this class, and which are of a

capacity to accommodate from sixty to eighty passengers, . . . run with a steadiness hardly equalled

by a steamboat in still water . . . ." Changes for the better had been made "in the construction of

trucks, springs, and connections, which are calculated to avoid atmospheric resistance, secure safety

and convenience, and contribute ease and comfort to passengers, while flying at the rate of 30 to 40

miles per hour."[21]

By the mid-1840s the good citizens of Mansfield, to whom, with their memories of rum rumbles,

fires, slaughter of livestock and dismembering of carts, wagons and trespassers on the track, slicing

up of farmlands and general disruption, the railroad had seemed an unwelcome intruder, began to

look on the iron trail in a more favorable light, and some of those villagers who had fought to keep

the railroads "at a safe and respectable distance"[22] now became anxious to have the rails come to

them. To those who owned the cotton factories, nail and knife shops, straw bonnet shop and busy

basket factories the railroad's freight trains proved useful for carrying their products to markets in the

city.

And the rails brought new business to Mansfield. Samuel Schenk, who had been turning out

carpenters' planes in his small shop in South Foxboro, for $4500 bought a former axle factory and

old sawmill on 5-3/4 acres of land on the site of the later Card's shop (now Millhouse Apartments)

south of Mansfield station along with flow privileges in Rumford River, erected a two-story factory

powered by a waterwheel and henceforth received his raw materials and shipped out his products by

train.[23] Manufacturers and shippers in Attleborough, Canton, Taunton and elsewhere also found

that using the railroad enabled them to expand and improve their businesses.

East Mansfield's Isaac Stearns, who was born in the stagecoach era, unlike Elijah Dean had

learned how to blend the new with the old forms of travel to his advantage. To cite a few entries

312

from his 1845 diary:

1 January: Took stage [from Franklin, Mass., where he was working in the so-called City Mills] for

Boston; at Dedham took the cars for Boston.

2 January: Came back in Providence train to East Foxboro, then stage to Wrentham, then on foot

to Franklin City.

1 June: George [Stearns] went to Boston and back in cars.

10 June: Went in cars to New Bedford, as evidence on our road.

8 October: To Taunton Cattle Show and Fair. Fare in cars to Taunton and back – 40 cents.

4 December: To Taunton in cars; fare to and back, 40 cents.

29 December: Went to Boston in cars from E. Foxboro, 45 cents. Came home in cars to Norton, fare

70 cents.[24]

Stearns was fortunate not to be aboard the Boston-bound “Steamboat Train” when it ran off the track on Sharon hill in November 1845, "breaking up the engine and tender, and also smashing the

forward baggage car."[25]

It seems a toss-up whether an increase in business or a motive power shortage caused by this

derailment led Boston and Providence in 1845 to put into service their first new engine in six years.

This locomotive, named Norfolk, scored a first in several ways: it was the railroad's first machine

with four drive wheels, which afforded greater tractive effort than the customary two, and the first of

28 of that type to be home-built in the railroad's own Roxbury shop to the design and under the

supervision of master mechanic George S. Griggs. The practical and well-balanced eight-wheeler or

4-4-0 type, as later it came to be called, became a nearly ubiquitous wheel arrangement throughout

the United States in the 19th century, a universal passenger and freight hauler known as the

"Standard American" type. Norfolk also would be the first Boston and Providence engine to receive a

road number as well as a name, though not for a decade or more after it was built.

Griggs, in his service under Whistler at Locks and Canals, had worked at assembling engines

imported from England, and in his ten years with Boston and Providence had ample time to ponder

on the ideal design of a locomotive. But this 1845 product was the first of his own creation. Griggs

did not originate the 4-4-0; the first machine of that wheel arrangement was built in 1837 by Henry

Campbell of the Germantown and Norristown Railway in Pennsylvania. Campbell patented his

313

brainchild and as late as 1845 strove actively and with apparent success to enforce his patent[26] but

whether he obtained a fee from Boston and Providence for Griggs's 4-4-0 I do not know.

Norfolk had 55-inch drive wheels and (a pet idea of Griggs) inside-connected cylinders 14-1/2

inches in diameter with an 18-inch stroke. A successful design with its high-riding Stephenson boiler

and riveted frame, it was cloned by the score over the next decade by other New England builders

such as Hinkley and Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company, despite its known disadvantages

– broken crank-axles and difficulty of access, among others – from which even Griggs's

improvements on the old English-style inside mechanism were prone to suffer. Norfolk's ultimate

disposition unfortunately is not known (too bad it was not saved), except that it survived at least until

1855 to '58, when Boston and Providence began the modern practice of numbering its engines. Its

success made Griggs one of the most influential and well-respected of early American

mechanics.[27] Unfortunately, it also encouraged him to stay the course with his favorite inside-

cylindered design when most other American railroads began to regard it as obsolescent.

The motive power roster of Boston and Providence at the end of 1845 still remains in large part a

mystery. It is evident that the locomotives Massachusetts (ex-Whistler), which was wheezing its last

miles, Boston, New York, Providence, King Philip and of course the new Norfolk were in active

service. This is an insufficient stable of power to handle the railroad's numerous trains, so possibly

Philadelphia, Baldwin 1, 2 and 3, and Young 1 and 2 were still around, though we don't know which

engine got "broken up" in the Sharon hill derailment or if it was repaired.

To prevent future head-enders such as had wrought such destruction and cost in 1836 and to make

it easier to handle the increasing "special" suburban traffic, Boston and Providence in 1845 extended

the second track from Roxbury out to Readville,[28] a distance of just under seven additional miles,

giving the railroad 8.5 miles of relatively safe and very useful double track from Boston.

The corporation, however, was unjustifiably sanguine about the longevity of their Lee-designed

rails, which they assumed would last indefinitely if the original pattern was good and of sufficient

weight. The directors of the road, in their report of February 1845, wrote confidently, "The renewal

of rails will never be a serious item of expense, only 2-1/4 per cent of the whole number having been

renewed in ten years."[29] This meant that the company expected their rails to last 45 years, an

optimism that despite the excellence of the rails turned out to be unjustified.

In 1845 the capital stock of Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company which

operated the short length of track in Rhode Island was acquired by the Boston and Providence Rail

Road Corporation in Massachusetts.[30] Boston and Providence dividends on par value were 7

percent in 1845, up one-half percent from the previous year. The Taunton Branch paid 8 percent, the

314

same as in 1844, and New Bedford and Taunton was at 7 percent, up from 6 the year before.[31]

A newly enlarged business in Taunton that promised to create more traffic on the Branch was

William Mason and Company. Mason, an enterprising Yankee who had come to Taunton some years

before, had been making textile machinery in three cramped shops scattered about the city. Thanks to

a boom in sales occasioned by a stiff tariff on imports enacted in 1842, the Mason firm had outgrown

its facilities and, like many a teen-age boy in hand-me-down clothes, was bursting at the seams.

Now, with financial help from Mills and Company, Mason erected a large new factory for the

manufacture of top-grade textile machinery of his own design on Oak Street beside the Taunton

Branch tracks. Building this modern integrated six-acre plant along the railroad instead of at the city

docks on Taunton River indicated Mason's faith in the future of overland transportation as opposed

to the sloops and river steamboats.[32] The principal customers for Mason's machinery, shipped out

in Taunton Branch freight cars and thence over Boston and Providence, were to be found in southern

New England and the mid-Atlantic states.[33]

* * *

In 1946 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and the Nickel Plate Road (New York, Chicago and St.

Louis Railroad), via the medium of magazine advertisements, told transcontinental railroad

passengers who tried in vain to get through Chicago, St. Louis or New Orleans without having to

transfer themselves and their luggage from one train to another, "A hog can cross America without

changing trains--but YOU can't."[34] That was true. Freight railroads that served (for example) the

Windy City were able to switch stock cars through a maze of yard trackage from one side of town to

the other without any of their four-footed travelers being forced to detrain and hoof it. Not so with

human passengers, as I recall from personal experience. If you were on route, say, from Los Angeles

to Boston, you got yourself and your baggage off at the Santa Fe's Dearborn Station, climbed into a

limousine of the Parmalee company and rode it across town to the New York Central's La Salle

Street depot.

A century earlier it was the same but worse at Providence. In fact not even the most travel-wise

hog in 1845 could oink his way through the Rhode Island capital without either a half-mile ferry ride

between the Boston and Providence and the Stonington terminals or a roundabout jolting passage in

a cart or wagon through the city streets from one depot to the other. Though both railroads continued

to dither over the problem of how to expedite the passage of people and freight through Providence,

no positive solution to the problem was as yet undertaken.

315

As often happens in a Mexican standoff between two parties, matters came to a head when a third

party barged into the field. This was the previously-mentioned Providence and Worcester Railroad,

first incorporated in Rhode Island on 20 May 1844. On 25 November 1845 a reorganized Providence

and Worcester came into being from the merger of the Rhode Island company with its Massachusetts

twin having the same name. Construction of this line, which would follow the Blackstone River

valley (and in so doing put the Blackstone Canal out of business), began immediately on the

Worcester end.

The railroad wanted to locate its Providence terminal in the city's business district and not off on

the periphery as was the case with Boston and Providence and the Stonington line, and proposed to

build its depot and yards on the northeast side of Great Salt Cove, a circular pond situated close to

downtown on what happened to be the site of the Blackstone Canal's tidal lock. The Rhode Island

legislature agreeably saw things their way and in 1845 granted the Providence City Council the

authority to allow the new company the right to lay tracks through the city and to build its terminal

beside the Cove.

But early in 1846, no doubt influenced by the other two railroads that had an interest in entering

the center city, the Providence and Worcester directors had second and in their minds better thoughts.

They proposed moving their terminal to a new location nearer to the downtown center and the harbor

on "made land" to be created by filling some of the Cove.

The City Council understandably was divided on the idea of dumping fill into any part of that

body of water. The little pond was surrounded by a promenade, and its waters and the land beneath

were public property. Some of the councilmen objected that filling would be hazardous to navigation

(the Cove, which has long since vanished, was connected by the Woonasquatucket River to the

larger Providence River and thence to Providence Harbor) and would ruin its attractiveness as a

public place.

The Worcester road, joined now by Boston and Providence and the Stonington railroad, who were

looking toward a shared union terminal that would get shut of the ferry, together with Providence

business interests who saw the advantages of centrally located passenger and freight facilities,

agreed that a union depot was needed, and leaned on the councilmen, who gave in. On 17 February

1846 they granted Providence and Worcester the right to lay track through the city and build their

terminal provided the company paid for filling those parts of the Cove that needed to be filled and

built the necessary retaining walls and bridges. Providence and Worcester agreed to this stipulation,

though the filling was to cost them a great deal of money. Construction of the impressive new station

316

near Exchange Place, whose erection, costs and use would be shared jointly by Providence and

Worcester and Boston and Providence, shortly got started.

This was the signal for everybody to get into the act. In 1846 Boston and Providence president

Joseph Grinnell, whose attention perhaps was divided by his being midway of an eight-year term as

a Whig congressman from Massachusetts,[35] was replaced as head honcho by Charles H. Warren,

though Grinnell continued to serve as a director of the road. Warren and his board knew that interests

in Pawtucket not only had already surveyed a cross-country west-to-east bridge line connecting the

Providence and Worcester with the Boston and Providence near Dodgeville, a part of Attleborough,

but intended to ask the Rhode Island legislature at its next session for a charter. This independent

cut-off would divert the Boston and Providence's traffic to the Providence and Worcester and thence

right into the heart of Providence from the north, rendering the Seekonk line and the India Point

terminal superfluous.

Thoughts of this horrifying prospect galvanized Boston and Providence into sudden action. A

straight line from their India Point terminal to the Cove was blocked by the bulk of College Hill. (In

the early 20th century a one-mile tunnel would be bored through this intervening elevation, but that

was unthinkable with 1840s technology.) To get around the hill would mean running track through

the waterfront streets, with sharp curves, close clearances and other inconveniences. There was only

one way for Boston and Providence to go, and that was to beat the Pawtucket interests at their own

game by grabbing the cut-off already surveyed. Viewing the coming Providence and Worcester as an

opportunity to enter Rhode Island, in March 1846 Boston and Providence was granted a charter for a

"branch" running from a turnout in the Hebronville section of Attleborough, south of Dodgeville,

westward to the Rhode Island state line, in the direction of the town of Central Falls. The Providence

and Worcester not only fell in with the idea, but agreed to perform all the construction work on the

proposed line provided Boston and Providence covered the costs.

This new track would take off from a switch (later to be called East Junction) in the Boston and

Providence main line, round a sweeping 1.5-degree right-hand curve, cross two creeks called the Ten

Mile and the Seven Mile rivers and after a mildly-saw-toothed profile in which no grade exceeded

0.5 percent, temporarily halt where the state of Massachusetts ended, 3.61 miles from its starting

point – less than a half mile short of the much more formidable Blackstone River, which would

require a substantial bridge. This "branch," on which the Worcester road at once commenced hurried

construction, would become the main route of Boston and Providence entering the Rhode Island

capital from the north instead of the east, and is still the Amtrak main line, while the old Seekonk

tangent was to be relegated to secondary or freight status.

317

This same charter granted the new “branch” the authority to connect with the Providence and Worcester Railroad at a point in Central Falls to be called West Junction and later Boston Switch,

about 4.33 miles from the East Junction turnout. The grant included the right for the Boston and

Providence to buy whatever Providence property they needed to erect their share of the new city

station. The Worcester line and the Boston and Providence, besides sharing joint ownership of the

proposed union depot, together would share half-and-half all construction work and then jointly

operate the new railroad from the junction at Central Falls into downtown Providence, an additional

distance of about five miles.

Now that Boston and Providence and the Providence and Worcester were to be joined at the hip,

so to speak, one more connection remained to be made. The Rhode Island General Assembly in

October 1846 voted to grant a charter allowing the New-York, Providence and Boston – the

Stonington road – to build a five- or six-mile link from Auburn in the outskirts of Providence to a

connection with either or both of the other two railroads at the Cove. This route, though in time it

would become part of the New Haven Railroad's famed Shore Line, ran into problems and was not

completed for two years.[36]

A major if temporary stumbling block thrown by Nature into the midst of all this planning and

work was a massive snowfall that must have hampered construction work and train movements for

several days. Isaac Stearns writes in his diary for 28 February 1846:

A snowstorm commenced with violent wind at NNE at 5 o'clock A.M. and continued through the day

with equal and increased violence. Roads filled up, etc. Ceased at 8 [in the] evening, and latter part of

the night clear. 13 inches of snow fell.[37]

* * *

Beginning in 1846, the year following George Griggs's construction of the pioneer engine Norfolk,

the Boston and Providence confidently embarked on a four-year flurry of building their own motive

power: three new locomotives in 1846, one in 1847, four in 1848, three in 1849. That these and

Norfolk were good engines is proven by the years of service the company got out of them; it was

1884 before the last one was off the roster. The 1846 machines were Suffolk, Bristol and a new

Massachusetts. All were built by Griggs in the company shops at Roxbury and all appear to have

been identical – as mentioned before, when Griggs latched onto a good performer he stuck with it.

These engines were of the 4-4-0 type with 60-inch drivers – bigger than those of Norfolk, which

meant greater speed – and cylinders 14-5/8 by 18 inches. Suffolk was sold to the Norwich and

318

Worcester Railroad in 1868, Bristol was sold in 1869 perhaps to the Portland and Ogdensburg

Railroad, so, obviously, there was still life left in the old ladies at those late dates.

By the fact that Massachusetts was the second Boston and Providence engine to carry that name

we can assume that the line's original Whistler of 1833, renamed Massachusetts some time after its

mud bath at West Mansfield, had been retired from the active roster or cut up for scrap; though I

have heard rumors that the old Whistler/Massachusetts (a pity it wasn't saved!) remained in storage

at Providence until about 1850.[38] The second Massachusetts served the railroad until it was

scrapped in 1881.[39]

The exact makeup of the Boston and Providence locomotive roster at the end of 1846 still remains

uncertain, but it appears likely that the two sturdy Britishers Boston and New York were still slugging

it out on the rails, while Providence, King Philip, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol and second Massachusetts

and perhaps as many as a half dozen other engines were in use.

The Taunton Branch, with its roster of all Locks and Canals locomotives, received no more

engines until 1848. But records of the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company, founded in

1846, show that some of their new machines, which a bit later, in the 1850s, were constructed on

prospect and sold afterward, were rented to the Branch for six to 12 months, so that by the time a

buyer did show up the locomotives were well broken in and their kinks ironed out but were not

overused. They were of course inspected and put in tip-top shape before being relayed to the

purchasers.[40] It is also recorded that Taunton Branch at times used engines belonging to Boston

and Providence.

Lozier, in his outstanding study of Taunton's machine makers, begins one of his chapters with the

statement, "In the decade following 1846 the locomotive succeeded the textile machine as Taunton's

most important product."[41] This meant significant new business for the Taunton Branch Rail Road

and indirectly for Boston and Providence. Taunton's second major machine shop was born in spring

of 1846. This was Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company, popularly known as Taunton

Locomotive Works, founded by three Crocker brothers of a prominent Taunton copper, iron and

manufacturing family, William Allen, Samuel Leonard and George Augustus, plus Willard Walcott

Fairbanks. The latter was a skilled mechanic who since 1828 had built marine and stationary steam

engines at Providence. Fairbanks later was titled "Agent," while William Crocker, a Brown

University graduate (incidentally, it was he who had made the rule that got David Ruggles thrown

off a train at New Bedford), became the new corporation's first president.

319

A rare blend of business acumen and mechanical genius, these men erected their factory in

summer and fall of that year just south of Taunton station and on the same side of the tracks, and in

December were ready to begin building locomotives. George S. Griggs, in an interesting case of one

hand washing the other, was a shareholder in the firm and not only "kindly furnished nearly all the

castings from his patterns" as well as drawings that the Taunton plant would need to build their first

engine, but dispatched one of his best mechanics, Benjamin Franklin Slater, from Roxbury shop to

Taunton to help finish the locomotive. Slater stayed with the Taunton works until his death in

1854.[42]

It may not have been common in those days to find interlocking ownership of railroad companies

and locomotive builders, but William Crocker's position with Taunton Branch Rail Road secured

Taunton Locomotive much business.[43] And the Branch continued to profit. In the first 11 months

of 1846, with net earnings of $25,389 after expenses of $97,678, the company paid eight percent on

the par value of its dividends, the same as for the previous two years. New Bedford and Taunton

shares over the same period likewise paid eight percent, up from seven in 1845 and six in 1844; the

road's expenses were $89,996 and net earnings $25,389. Boston and Providence dividends in the first

11 months of 1846 paid eight percent, up from seven percent in 1845; expenses for the same period

were $169,679 and net earnings came to a goodly $191,196.[44]

Second at first to Providence and now to Taunton, Mansfield continued to be a center of

railroading interest. In 1846 the Massachusetts General Court granted yet another charter for "sundry

parties" to build a 15-mile railroad from Mansfield northwestward through Foxborough, then

looping west and southwest by way of Wrentham and Bellingham, Massachusetts, to the Rhode

Island state line at Cumberland. This road, like the proposed Woonsocket lines, never got off the

ground,[45] and the hilltop town of Foxborough, which initially had rejected a proposed routing of

the Boston and Providence main line through its village center, having had a chance to observe the

favorable effect railroads had on other nearby towns, was to wait another 25 years before it got a

railroad it could call its own.

320

NOTES

1. Lewis 1973: 13.

2. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8.

3. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8.

4. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8.

5. Stoughton Branch Rail-road Corp., First annual report Feb. 1845. On 19 June 1848 Israel Tisdale, who lived in

Stoughton and had become a Mass. Railroad Commissioner, for reasons unknown to me hanged himself in a railroad car.

Oakes Ames, later a congressman involved in the Union Pacific Credit Mobilier scandals, certainly was interested in

seeing a line of railroad approaching his shovel works in Easton.

6. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8, 9.

7. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 34; NHRHTA bull. v. 2, n. 1, Feb. 1971: 4; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29; 1986: 11;

Galvin 1987: 7; A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002.

8. Galvin 1987: 12, 13. The present depots at Canton Jct. and Canton, only 0.62 mile apart, are perhaps closer

together than any two station stops in present-day MBTA commuter territory.

9. Galvin 1987: 8-9; see p. 8 for map.

10. Galvin 1987: 30, q v. for a 1908 photograph, from which it is obvious that this coach was considerably shorter

and smaller than the stage-type coaches used at first on the Dedham Branch.

11. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29, 31.

12. The U. S. Coast Survey was founded by Pres. Jefferson in 1807. Superintendent at the time of the Boston &

Providence triangulation was Alexander Davis Bache. In 1878 the Survey was reorganized as the U. S. Coast and

Geodetic Survey.

13. U. S. Coast Survey 1844; J. P. Lienesch pers. comm. 1957; J. Cooney c1965. On an 1850 map of Foxborough the

northernmost railroad tower, marked by a flag and labeled "Station on Coast Survey," is shown about 2300 feet north of

the Mansfield town line, halfway between the two former Summer St. grade crossings. In this kind of surveying it is

inadvisable to use a base line of less than 3 miles in length. To avoid unfavorable effects of refraction, lines of sight that

graze the ground are avoided, and lines are kept 10 to 20 feet above any intervening surface. The relative scarcity of trees

in the 19th century probably made cross-country sighting easier. The curvature of the earth and the opposing effect of

atmospheric refraction had to be figured into the calculations, but at these relatively short distances this would not have

been a problem; because of curvature, a level sight taken from one station would pass 5-1/2 feet above a point of equal

elevation 9-1/2 miles away.

Around 1960, when I worked as a transitman in a land survey party, we had occasion to hunt for and find, east of the

tracks at Bleachery Curve, the actual 1844 station point, surrounded by scattered bricks. Upon digging away the dead

leaves and humus we found a brass pin embedded in brickwork. Thus well over a century after the Coast Survey finished

their triangulation we rediscovered and used in our own survey the point at the north end of their base line.

The vicinity of Mansfield is so flat that one needs only to climb a tall tree to see distant elevations such as Great

Meadow Hill and Blue Hill.

321

Evidence that the railroad was accurately resurveyed in mid-20th century existed in the form of a white diamond target

painted on a black board fastened to the north side of Skinner's (former Lane's) bridge in West Mansfield.

14. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 64, 69; 26 Jan. 1951. Miss Copeland says Fred Paine began sawing wood at age 12.

She notes that railroading, like the ministry, tended to run in families. Frederick Paine's death from hemiplegia (paralysis

of a part of his body) is recorded in Annual Rep't for the town of Mansfield 1906: 44. What a pity a careful reporter

didn't interview Fred Paine at length about his and the railroad's interconnected histories!

15. To complete the picture, one of my mother's two brothers was a street car motorman, the other a conductor, on the

interurban Blackstone Valley line.

16. Appleton 1871: 3; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 9.

17. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 9.

18. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8-10.

19. OFA 1848: 38.

20. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 7.

21. "Improved railroad cars," c1845, anon., illustrated with a picture of an eight-wheel double-truck car with open

end-platforms.

22. The quote is from Appleton 1871: 4.

23. Copeland 1934c, 1936-56: 109.

24. Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 631, 643, 645.

25. New Bedford Mercury 21 Nov. 1845, called to my attention by A. M. Levitt 1998. I am unable to say which

engine this might have been. The account suggests that the consist included at least two baggage cars.

26. White 1968-79: 48.

27. C. Fisher. Sept. 1938: 81; White 1968-79: 19, 208, 322, 452; Westwood 1977-78: 216; Lozier 1978-86: 416;

White: 1981: 37; Swanberg 1988: 36. Swanberg (op. cit.) feels that the acquisition of only one new locomotive since

1839 indicates no great increase in B&P traffic over the intervening period, which considering the downturn in business

resulting from the Panic of 1837 is indeed possible; but might it not also indicate an overabundance of locomotives

dating from 1835 to 1837 (the 42-mile line bought 14 machines over those three years) plus the increasing skill of their

engineers and firemen at handling longer and faster trains?

28. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

29. Appleton 1871: 4.

30. NHRAA 1940-52; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 8.

31. OFA 1848: 38.

32. Lozier 1986: 344-5; Levasseur 1994: 35.

33. Lozier 1986: 363-8.

34. Thanks to J. W. Swanberg for disinterring this old one-liner for me!

35. Biographical directory of the U. S. Congress.

36. FWP-RI 1937: 90; Belcher 1938: no. 4; NYNH&H 10 Sept. 1941; E. Lewis 1973: 17; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 5,

45; Ozog 1984: 7-8; Greenwood 1998: 15. Greenwood claims, as does Levitt (letter in SIA Newsletter spring 1999: 5

ref. to IA Journal v. 25, n. 1), that the proposed Providence terminal (which was not to be completed and opened for

another two years) would be the country's first true Union Station, and perhaps it was, if the "first" be limited to a city

depot or one hosting three railroads; but the station at Mansfield, serving the tracks of two independent corporations,

322

Boston & Providence and Taunton Branch R. R., appears to have taken a prior honor back in 1836, at least in

Massachusetts.

37. Thoreau was living at Walden Pond during this storm, and across the pond from his hut ran the Fitchburg R. R. In

Walden he pens this great tribute to railroad men, comparing them favorably to soldiers who fought in the Mexican-

American War:

I am less affected by their heroism who stood up for half an hour in the front line at Buena Vista, than by the

steady and cheerful valor of the men who inhabit the snow-plow for their winter quarters; who have not merely the three-

o'clock-in-the-morning courage, which Bonaparte thought was the rarest, but whose courage does not go to rest so early,

who go to sleep only when the storm sleeps or the sinews of their iron steed are frozen. On this morning of the Great

Snow, perchance, which is still raging and chilling men's blood, I hear the muffled tone of their engine bell from out the

fog bank of their chilled breath, which announces that the cars are coming, without long delay, notwithstanding the veto

of a New England northeast snow-storm, and I behold the plowmen covered with snow and rime, their heads peering

above the mould-board . . . .

38. E. Stange pers. comm. 2002.

39. C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 81; Edson 1981: xvi, xvii.

40. C. Fisher April 1938: 12; White 1968-79: 26.

41. Lozier 1986: 396.

42. Lozier 1978-86: 397-8, 407-8; White 1981: 37; Levasseur 1994: 16, 33. Samuel Crocker, born in Taunton in

1804, also was graduated from Brown. At one time or another he was a copper manufacturer, operator (with his brother

George) of a Portsmouth, R. I., coal mine and copper smelting plant, a president of Taunton Locomotive Mfg. Co., and a

director in Old Colony Iron Works, Old Colony Railroad, Bristol County Savings Bank, Machinist‟s National bank and the Taunton Lunatic Asylum. He was also a member of Mass. Gov. Briggs‟s council in 1849, a representative in the 33rd

Congress 1853-55 and (keeping a safe footing in spiritual as well as earthly matters) a trustee of the General Theological

Seminary, New York City. Were these Crocker brothers relatives of former dry goods merchant Charles Crocker, one of

the infamous "Big Four" who officered the Central Pacific R. R. beginning in 1861? Fairbanks remained with Taunton

until 1861, when he left to become superintendent of the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Co.; his place was taken

by Harrison Tweed.

43. Lozier 1986: 485.

44. OFA 1848: 38.

45. Copeland 1930b, 1936-56: 62; Lane 1966: 114. This projected railroad is shown on a hand-colored plan filed in

the Library of Congress Geographic and Map Div., Washington, entitled "Map of the Boston & Woonsocket Rail Road

Routes [etc.] 1847," which depicts different surveys returned to the Joint Standing Committee on Railroads & Canals

(scale 1:160,000, lithographed by Ephraim W. Bouve' [1817-97]).

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19 – Providence at last gets its Union Station

The Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation archives were sold at auction by Parke-Bernet,

the predecessors of Sotheby, in New York during April or May 1942. However, a catalogue of the

sale or sales cannot now be found, and Sotheby has no such record in their own archives.[1]

Be that as it may, several years before this writing, railroad researcher Alan M. Levitt was able to

acquire a part of this collection, including, among other items, the historically important original

documents representing the invoices paid and employe payrolls of the Boston and Providence Rail

Road for the month ending 30 September 1846, copies of which he kindly sent to me.

The September payroll is obviously not a complete roster of employes; for example, only one full

train crew is listed among the 99 names and it was assigned to the Dedham Branch,[2] and no depot

masters or passenger and freight agents are to be found. Principally the roll appears to include

maintenance of way employes of three of the four "divisions" of the railroad along with the

superintendents; machinists, blacksmiths and car builders who worked in the Roxbury shop plus

their boss, George S. Griggs; and others with various jobs, including some (even one of the

superintendents) who divided their time between two different occupations, which accounts for the

"1/2" denominations in the following tabulation.

Job title 1st Div. 3rd Div. 4th Div. Dedham Br. Other Total

Baggage master ................ ................. ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

Blacksmith ....................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 4 ............. 4

Brakeman ......................... ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. ................. 1

Car builder ....................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 8 ............. 8

Carpenter .......................... 1-1/2 ....... 2 ............. 2 ............. 2-1/2 ....... ................. 8

Conductor ......................... ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. ................. 1

Contractor wood & water ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

Crossing flagman ............. ................. ................. ................. ................. 3 ............. 3

Crossing gate tender ......... ................. ................. ................. ................. 5 ............. 5

Engineman ....................... ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. ................. 1

Fireman ............................ ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. ................. 1

Laborer ............................. 8 ............. 10 ............. 3 ............. 2 ............. 5 ............. 28

Machinist ......................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 13 ............. 13

324

Master mechanic .............. ................. ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

Merchandise clerk ............ ................. ................. ................. ................. 2 ............. 2

Miscellaneous[3] ............. ................. ................. ................. ................. 12 ............. 12

Not specified .................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

Superintendent ................. 1/2 ........ 1 ............. 1 ............. 1/2 ........ 1 ............. 4

Switchman ....................... ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. ................. 1

Ticket clerk ...................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

Watchman ....................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

Wood splitter ................... ................. ................. ................. ................. 1 ............. 1

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

10 ............. 13 ............. 6 ............. 10 ............. 60 ............. 99

The four "divisions" of approximately 11 miles each described by Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 329-

30) are obvious here, though there had been some changes. In 1839 each division employed one

carpenter, four laborers and an "overseer." By 1846 the carpenters' wages were the same as they had

been six or seven years before, the laborers' pay had increased from 75 to 87 cents per day to a

dollar, but the divisional superintendents, despite their loftier titles (I am unsure whether they would

now be called track supervisors or section foremen; the divisions would be termed sections), earned

only $1.53-1/3 to $1.66-2/3 per day compared to $1.75 for the 1839 overseer. D. L. Davis wore two

hats: he is listed as Superintendent of Repairs on both the First Division (which probably extended

from Boston to between Readville and Canton) and the Dedham Branch Railroad, with a salary of

$600 per year.[4]

Isaac Stearns's friend Willard Manuel of Mansfield (Stearns portrayed him as a large, hearty,

good-natured man) was Superintendent of the Third Division; Isaiah Hoyt was Superintendent of the

Fourth Division (probably Dodgeville to Providence); both at $50 a month. Their superior,

Superintendent of Transportation J. Hinckley, in September 1846 earned $104.16.

To isolate one example of the divisional work forces, the crew of Manuel's Third Division, which

most likely extended from Mansfield through Attleborough to Dodgeville, consisted of two

carpenters, William Greenfield and O. S. Kingsbury, and ten laborers (section men, we might call

them) named John Brutcher, Joseph Estus, William Fitzgerald, Daniel Henigin, Stephen Hurdy, John

Leahy, William McDavott, Thomas Owen, Owen Strafford and Patrick Sullivan, who worked from 8

to 26 days in September for a dollar a day. Man-days for Manuel's carpenters in September totaled

27-1/4; laborer man-days came to 210-3/4. The work day probably amounted to 10 hours, perhaps

325

depending on the season of the year – in winter, outdoor daylight began late and ended early. Leahy

and McDavott each worked 8 days and Henigin 17; only Fitzgerald, Owen and Strafford put in 26

days, and as September 1846 had 26 work-days counting Saturdays, these three men gave the

railroad their full time during the month.

Greenfield evidently was the senior carpenter at a per diem pay of $1.37-1/2 while Kingsbury

(who worked only 1-1/4 day during the month) made $1.25 per day. Both carpenters signed their

own names on the payroll, but of the section men Fitzgerald, Henigin, McDavott, Owen, Strafford

and Sullivan signed with a mark. Manuel himself earned only $50 in September but put in a full 30

days' work; thus the boss spent more time on the job than any of his men, being at work or at least

available for work seven days a week, but received only $1.66-2/3 a day for his time, trouble and

knowledge.

George S. Griggs, listed as Master Mechanic, received $125 for 30 days' work in September. By

comparison, President Charles H. Warren, though not listed on the September roll, was paid $1000

for six months' salary. Apparently, then, Griggs's salary amounted to $1500 per year and Warren's

$2000, equivalent to $26,430 and $35,240, respectively, in 1991 money – seemingly small

compensation for the posts they held; but then there were no income taxes or other payroll

deductions in those days.[5]

To list the few operating employes: Conductor Moses L. Boyd was paid $16.67 for 30 days' work;

engineman David Standish $50 for 30 days' work (equivalent to a superintendent's salary!); fireman

James Prince and brakeman Charles Hawkins $30 for 30 days. These four men comprised the

Dedham Branch train crew, the only such crew listed. But their services must have been in some way

outstanding because later the Boston and Providence was to name locomotives for Boyd and

Standish.

Crossing flagmen and gate tenders earned a uniform $250 per year and worked seven days a week

(proving that trains ran on the Sabbath); this amounted to 68.5 cents a day, but tending crossings

even in the 20th century was never a remunerative job. The crossings they protected were eight in

number, at least six of which were on the main line in Boston or its near suburbs (approximate

mileages from Park Station supplied by me): Ruggle Street (1.3, flag), Tremont Street (1.7, flag),

Heath Street (2.2, gate), Boylston Street (2.8, gate), Walk Hill Street (4.1, gate) and Turnpike (now

Washington Street, 4.2, flag). Walnut Street (gate) was in Dedham. Queen Street (gate) I cannot

identify; Boston presently has a Queen Street but far removed from the Boston and Providence Rail

Road.

326

The September 1846 payroll, along with still other invoices and payrolls for October 1846,

contains an unexplained oddity which I have barely mentioned before: Some of the suppliers'

charges and employes' wages were based on what appears to have been British coinage! This is not

to say that employes or suppliers were paid in British metal; they were not. But the railroad seems to

have based its rates of pay and purchases on increments equivalent to shillings and pence, at the rate

of 16-2/3 United States cents per shilling. The payroll lists 20 individuals (13 laborers, five others

who worked "fitting up cars" and two carpenters) whose per diem rate was given in shillings or in

shillings and pence. For example, the daily rate of William Hoyt and Nathaniel White, Fourth

Division carpenters, was six shillings, ninepence, which the roll makes clear was equivalent to

$1.12-1/2; for a man named Aldrich it was 10 shillings, sixpence or $1.75 for "Fitting up cars." The

13 laborers received the equivalent of six shillings a day, or one dollar.

In addition, the daily pay of 17 other employes of various job titles was expressed in fractions of a

cent (e. g., $1.66-2/3, $1.58-1/3, $1.37-1/2) which equate to shillings and pence at the rate of six or

eight shillings to the dollar. Many other payments are made in the apparent equivalents of English

coinage. In September 1846 Lorenzo Mitchell, for "Work on bridges, on draw [this had to be the

Seekonk River movable bridge], on new platforms, hewing sleepers, collecting old draw irons,

laying tracks, imparting [sic] up switches, work on cars, freight cars, engines," was paid $170.41 by

Exchange Bank check no. 419 at the rate of 10 shillings per day. Taunton manufacturer Isaac Babbitt

between 8 July and 25 September was paid $264.95 for a great miscellany of metal castings and

other items, including 38 "Car Boxes" and "Repairs to Cars and Engines," two of which were billed

at two shillings each.[6] And Lyman Kinsley of the iron works in Canton received $432.94 from the

Boston and Providence in September 1846 for switch castings, chilled gear boxes, wheels and axles,

switch frogs and numerous other items as well as boring, fitting, finishing and other work; two items

of labor were billed at 18 shillings per day.

These practices came as a "total surprise" to John J. McCusker, a notable expert in United States

currency and historic economics,[7] who had not previously found other such extensive references

to the American use of the shilling. Neither could Professor McCusker offer an explanation for

accounting in shillings and pence by a major company, the Boston and Providence Rail Road

Corporation, as late as 1846, 70 years after the Declaration of Independence from British rule and 53

years after the first issuance of United States currency.

The professor also was astonished to learn that the Boston and Worcester's 1834 fare from

Washington Street in Boston to Newton was 37-1/2 cents, which at that time was the going

equivalent of three shillings if the shilling equalled 12-1/2 cents. The same amount appears in Isaac

327

Stearns's 1842 expenses. The fare from Readville to Dedham station also was 37-1/2 cents.

Interestingly, the only instances where half-cents appear in the Boston and Providence payables and

pay rolls are where the amounts equate to shillings.[8]

Levitt also acquired "all the invoices paid in October 1846 by Boston and Providence" as well as

some paid in July and September. The former include a printer's invoice headed "Payment No. 40,

Bill of Joseph G. Torrey," which lists, among other items, 5280 first class and 2780 second class

"Steamboat Line" tickets, 10,000 red second class tickets for Boston and Providence Rail Road and

10,190 blue first class tickets Providence to Boston.[9] The blue-inked tickets are the only ones on

which station names are pre-printed. The rest, listed as "RRoad" tickets, appear to have been blanks.

Some of the tickets are listed as "Pawtucket Br Rrd," which refers to the new line extended in a

westward direction from Hebronville to the Rhode Island line. Torrey was to be paid $131.51 for

these invoices, equivalent (says Professor McCusker) to $2329 in 1991 money.

Many of the Boston and Providence's September and (mainly) October 1846 invoices are

"peppered" with charges for cordwood, much of which came by ships apparently belonging to the

railroad from company-owned woodlands in Virginia; although Torrey printed no cordwood invoices

during the third quarter of 1846. Both pitch pine and white pine (Pinus strobus) are mentioned. The

wood was received on the schooners Echsah (also spelled Achsah, which probably was correct)

Parker, Jeroleman (113 cords at $6.00 per cord), Pokomoke (70 cords also at $6.00) and Sarah

Francis and the sloop Eunice. The Sarah Francis is represented by two trips, having been unloaded

on 14 September (28 cords) and 7 October; her loads were billed at $5.20 per cord, as was the wood

from the Eunice. The Echsah Parker was unloaded 21 September (28 cords), 13 October (30 cords)

and 22 October (29 cords), these loads billed at $5.20 per cord. The two different prices suggest two

separate sources in Virginia some distance apart by land or sea or both.

Several invoices are for cart loads (seemingly of one cord each, although one cord is a large load)

of wood delivered to Mansfield depot by six individuals. The charges are for the wood and delivery

and not just the cartage: pitch pine is invoiced at $4.00, $4.50, $5.00 or $5.75 per cord, and white

pine (which was plentiful locally) at either $3.00 or $4.00 per cord. In all, 547 cords of wood can be

identified; of these, 338 (62 percent) arrived by ship and 209 (38 percent) were delivered from local

sources. The average non-weighted price was $4.70 per cord. Eight invoices cover sawing or cording

of wood, indicating that delivered wood did not always come in fit-for-tender sizes. All of this may

have been a part of Fred Paine's wood business.

328

There is also an October payment to one Isaac Emery for the "Wood Account" in the amount of

$1500.00 representing 320 cords; this payment includes some pre-October purchases. It is not

known whether Emery was an agent, broker or fuel dealer; probably the latter, for he also had

present invoices for pitch pine and for "surveying" wood apparently shipped from the Virginia

forests. No other disbursements are listed against "Wood Account."

The railroad on 24 September gave Avery S. Briggs a check (no. 2800) for $3.25 for "Sawing 5

cords of wood" at four shillings sixpence per cord, a shilling at this rate being valued at 16.67 cents,

with credit of 50 cents for the sale of old sleepers;[10] this account is listed "Repairs to Rail Road."

In addition to unloading charges, there are also "surveying" charges, suggesting either that the

Boston and Providence management did not trust the ships' captains or that the railroad company did

not load the wood at the Virginia quays. Four of the invoices relate to wood delivery by rail to

Mansfield; one of these is noted "Mansfield Depot." Each invoice, both ship and cart, indicates

payment to various persons, presumably the ship's captain or the carter as an individual contractor. In

addition, a "woodhouse" is mentioned, apparently the shed where this fuel was stored.

At about this same time another of the Mansfield Paines, Asahel by name, supplied 20-6/40 tons

of "chesnut" piles at $7.00 per ton for the foundation of the Seekonk River bridge[11] which must

have been undergoing reconstruction or strengthening.

Among the invoices to Boston and Providence are three for "soft coal," one of which notes

delivery to Pleasant Street depot in Boston.[12] As "hard coal" (anthracite) generally was employed

for heating buildings and passenger cars, it is not clear what this bituminous might have been used

for. Possibly it was intended as locomotive fuel, though I am not sure that any Boston and

Providence engines were burning coal at that time. Or it could have been to fuel a stationary steam

engine used to operate shop machinery.

Two gentlemen identified on the October 1846 Boston and Providence payroll only as Fish and

Gates each received 88 cents for a half day's "Work on Coal Platform." This reference probably

pertains to the Pennsylvania anthracite doled out for use in passenger coach and station stoves and

also in blacksmiths' forges, for which that rank of fuel was well suited, though the platform may

have had something to do with the above-mentioned bituminous.

It is apparent that no Boston and Providence employes were waxing wealthy even by the

standards of the time. The economy had never fully recovered from the Panic of 1837, and while

workers' wages remained degraded, commodity prices were high. It was conservatively estimated at

about that time that a family of five in Massachusetts "required $10.37 a week for the barest

329

necessities of existence," considerably above the average compensation provided by the railroad for

its workers. By way of comparison with two other industries, shoemakers in Lynn averaged $4 or $5

a week and power loom operators in the huge Lowell mills (which were considered models of

industrial progress, whether they were or not) averaged $1.93 a week plus board or $1.75 a week

without board.[13]

* * *

Trying to piece together a coherent history of the shape-shifting, kaleidoscopic, hodgepodge,

chameleon collection of midland railroads cobbled together between the Boston and Providence

junction at Readville through Walpole, Franklin and Blackstone, Massachusetts, and on into

Connecticut, aimed hopefully in the general direction of New Haven and New York, is enough to

drive a teetotaler to barleycorn. Yet it is important to sketch a history of these lines because of the

effect they had on the Boston and Providence. This effect was at first positive, because the new roads

fed traffic to and from the Dedham Branch, but later negative, when the completed collection of

lines became a rival of Boston and Providence in the stumbling race to be the first to set up all-rail

service between Boston and New York.

The confusion started on 16 April 1846 when the Massachusetts General Court chartered the

Walpole Rail Road Company and authorized it to build a line from the end of the Boston and

Providence's Dedham Branch to Walpole, 8.5 miles,[14] following one of the original but abandoned

survey lines laid out for Boston and Providence by William Gibbs NcNeill in 1832. This company

was organized 25 June 1846.

Work on this extension was still under way when on 24 April 1847 the legislature granted the

charter for a connecting road from Walpole to a junction with the Providence and Worcester at

Blackstone, 17.5 miles, to be called the Norfolk County Rail Road.[15] In those pre-airplane days,

any railway that followed a nearly straight course across country was called an "air line" (today we

might say "bee line"), and the Norfolk County road was "intended as part of the Air-line railroad

from Boston to New York" by way of Willimantic, Middletown and New Haven[16] that if

completed would severely undercut efforts by Boston and Providence and the Stonington to put

together a shore line railroad between those two metropolitan centers. In reality the Connecticut part

of this so-called air line was crooked as a blacksnake, as is obvious to anyone who has ridden over it,

as well as beset by grades, but the distance covered was nearly 17 miles shorter than a line following

the Long Island Sound shore,[17] and on a small-scale map it looked straight.

Common sense as well as the "air line" concept decreed that these two new end-to-end lines

should unite, and so they did; authority was given the Norfolk County Rail Road, which was

330

organized 15 May, to combine with the Walpole Rail Road whenever a majority of shareholders of

each company agreed. The marriage took place 19 July 1847 when the Norfolk County road

acquired the Walpole line.[18]

The route as laid out ran from Dedham through East Walpole. The new officers then in control of

the company, in the interests of maintaining the air line, decided to improve on McNeill's layout by

straightening this part of the road and shifting it sideways about a half mile northwestward to the

center of Walpole, with the result that much work that had been done was abandoned and the present

route was adopted. This was a blow to the industries already established in East Walpole, through

which the original survey ran. The influential Francis William “Frank” Bird, a tall, wiry man of keen intellect, described three decades later as "the most noted man in Walpole," tried to have the

legislature order the East Walpole course restored, but without success, and from the completion of

the road in 1849 this important manufacturer became, like Elijah Dean but without the poetry, an

unforgiving foe of the railroad – a few years later he was to come back to haunt them![19]

Construction of this railroad brought another flood of Corkies, this time to Norwood. Most settled

in parts of Dedham that became known as Cork City and Dublin.[20]

* * *

Taunton also got itself a new rail line of sorts when on 16 April 1847 the Weir Branch Railroad

was chartered by the Massachusetts legislature. On the same day, these rights were transferred to the

Taunton Branch Rail Road Corporation and the New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road Corporation,

both of which during 1847 laid out a "paper" connecting link from a part of Taunton known as Weir

Village, in which they built a new station called Weir Junction, on Taunton River a mile and quarter

south of the city's center, to the Old Brewery Wharf, a distance of 5000 feet. This mini-railroad

lasted until some time after 1872, when it was discontinued.[21]

Having already double-tracked their main line from Boston to Readville, the Boston and

Providence now turned their attention to the Sharon-Mansfield section, which received a second

track in 1846-47.[22] One might ask why that particular district, where the ruling grade did not

exceed 0.5 percent, was picked for double-tracking and not the steeper north side of Sharon hill,

through Canton. My guess is that it was for the same reason that the railroad between Mansfield and

Sharon Heights, a distance of 5.44 miles, was triple-tracked during the first half of the 20th century

while the other side of Sharon Hill retained its two tracks – to accommodate the Boston-bound

traffic joining the up-grade main line from the New Bedford and Taunton road at Mansfield. It is

likely also that helper locomotives assisting slow northward freight trains up the grade were based at

Mansfield, where there was an engine house and turntable; and it may have been that freights headed

331

for Boston were more heavily loaded than their opposite numbers, hence were slower and more

likely to obstruct and delay the faster passenger trains, or were considered of higher priority –

possessed "rights by direction." Perhaps too the railroad was reluctant to tackle the job of double-

tracking the Canton viaduct. Or – an equally probable reason – more scheduled trains met and

passed one another in the Sharon-Mansfield section than on other parts of the road.

This improvement left the sections between Readville and Sharon and from Mansfield to the new

West Junction, and also the Seekonk and India Point line, still operating with one set of rails --

"single iron," as railroad men say.

* * *

By 1848 Providence, whose population in 1845 was 31,751 and which at first had seemed

destined to play the role of a mere way station on the route from The Hub to New York, had got up

off the canvas and became, next only to Boston, the center of the New England railroad world. The

Boston and Providence, New-York, Providence and Boston (Stonington) and Providence and

Worcester Rail Roads now radiated north, southwest and northwest from the Rhode Island capital,

and Providence at last had a rational transportation system. But if its significance in the railroad

world was augmented, in 1847 its importance as a seaport had been threatened when steamboat

service commenced between Fall River and New York. This meant that sooner or later something

needed to be done to pump up Providence's preeminence as a focus of intermodal land-water

transport.

The Providence and Worcester was the third railroad to enter Providence and the first to run its

trains directly to the downtown area. On 27 September 1847 this road was opened from Providence

to Millville, Massachusetts. Passenger service along the Blackstone River Valley between Millville

and Worcester began 20 October 1847 and the entire line opened officially on Monday, 25 October

1847,[23] terminating as planned in the center of Providence near the present Exchange Place on the

south side of Great Salt Cove.[24]

Construction of the new joint or union passenger station on filled Cove land in the center of the

city began in 1847 and was to be completed in 1848, the same year in which the progressive city of

Providence replaced its sperm oil street lamps with brighter lights burning coal gas. As part of the

earlier agreement by which the Providence and Worcester and the Boston and Providence railroads

332

shared the costs and construction of the new line from Hebronville into Providence, the two roads

also jointly participated in the station work and costs, as did the Stonington road later.

Railroad architecture had slipped the bonds of Greek Revivalism and now embraced a "new" sort

of unauthentic style. Providence depot is said to have been the first in the country designed in the

Romanesque manner. (The time was yet far off when architects would remember that neither the

Greeks nor Romans had railroads, and began designing stations in a railroad manner – even New

York‟s 1912 Grand Central Terminal was designed to resemble the baths of the Roman Emperor Caracalla!) Two tall sharp-spired towers, one with a clock, attached to the corners of the twin

headhouses, originally flanked an open driveway leading to the Cove promenade. Providence and

Worcester built and owned the east building and Boston and Providence the west. But before long

the "dog-trot" drive was closed and the towers were joined by a central facade more suggestive of a

medieval Italian cathedral than a 19th century transportation center; one almost expects to see

Galileo hurrying under the arcades to whisper a quick prayer before boarding a Rome-bound litter.

This central portion and the land behind it were owned jointly by both roads.

A covered train shed accessible from the street through a row of eleven archways extended

eastward from the main building; it had its own smaller tower and a circular structure that might be

described, if one continues with the cathedral simile, as an apse. On the second floor of the two-story

building were offices for the brass collars with balconies overlooking the waiting room. A large part

of the upstairs area was given over to Railroad Hall, providing space for various hired public

entertainments and the lectures popular in that pre-movies and -television era. As one faced the large

station from the street on which it fronted, the octagonal two-story New-York, Providence and

Boston baggage room occupied the left-hand end of the building.

In those days, young persons cheerfully undertook and successfully accomplished what it now

takes older heads to do, and Providence Union Station (as it came to be called) could claim another

first: it was the first major railroad station designed by 22-year-old Providence architect Thomas

Alexander Tefft.[25] When the depot was 37 years old in 1885 it was voted one of the twenty best

buildings in the United States. Even nature-lover Henry Thoreau was impressed in 1854 with it's

"towers and great length of brick."[26] It also was one the largest passenger stations of its time, and

(it must be said to his credit) Tefft, despite his 11th or 12th century tastes and his fondness for

"pilaster strips and corbel tables of Lombard Romanesque style," did not ignore Bauhaus fitness-to-

function, and skillfully considered safety and convenience; the depot's one through track and several

stub-end tracks were laid out in such a way that no one boarding or detraining had to cross the rails.

At last, both hogs and humans could get through Providence without changing trains or climbing on

333

and off a ferryboat gangplank!

Union Station served Providence well for nearly fifty years until with the march of time it became

outmoded and outgrown. It was destroyed by fire 21 February 1896, coincidentally (and

conveniently) as a new station was being built to replace it.[27]

With construction of the big depot having started, Boston and Providence hustled to effect their

entrance into the downtown part of the Rhode Island capital. Continuing with the cross-country

“branch route” that they already had started, they laid track across the state line into Rhode Island near Pleasant View, then spanned Blackstone River on a high timber trestle and merged with the

track of the Providence and Worcester at West Junction (now Boston Switch) in Central Falls, so

named to complement East Junction at the Hebronville end of the cut-off.

From this point – around a right-hand 3.3-degree curve into Pawtucket and down the bottoms of

Moshassuck River to Providence – for the remaining five miles to Union Depot, Boston and

Providence used the right-of-way already laid out by Providence and Worcester, the two railroads

operating as one on the double-track which they jointly built, owned and maintained. They appear

also to have owned jointly all the buildings along this stretch of track; and a switch engine based in

Pawtucket apparently was purchased by both roads. For some reason (perhaps, as has been said

without substantiating evidence, under the influence of British railroad practices, but more likely for

the convenience of boarding and offloading passengers or making interchange or switching moves in

the station) both railroads chose to run their trains on the left-hand track.[28]

The Providence and Worcester schedule taking effect Wednesday, 15 March 1848, lists two daily

through trains in each direction between those cities plus two daily "special trains" (commuter runs)

each way between Providence and Uxbridge, Massachusetts, 25 miles up the line. The train leaving

Uxbridge at 6:20 a. m. connected at Pawtucket with a Boston and Providence train for Boston, while

the run leaving Providence for Uxbridge at 5:40 p. m. met with a Boston and Providence train from

Boston. Thus the two railroads set up their schedules so that a passenger could make a V-shaped trip

from Boston to Pawtucket to Uxbridge and vice versa, changing trains at the mid-point, a handy

arrangement that prevailed (to my personal convenience) on the New Haven Railroad even into the

mid-1940s.

The new alignment of the Boston and Providence meant that their excellent 16.09-mile

straightaway – the longest in Massachusetts, though the southern end was in Rhode Island – laid out

by McNeill from East Foxborough to Rumford, Rhode Island, had been shortened for main line

usage to 10.68 miles. The railroad gave up their out-of-the-way India Point passenger terminal on

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Providence's east side and began using the new routing and the new Union Station in October

1847.[29] India Point now became a yard for freight and storage.

The new routing of Boston and Providence was much appreciated in the previously isolated

village of Pawtucket (1840 population 2119), for whose residents Boston was now only 39 rail miles

away. In appearance, the first Pawtucket passenger house was a simple country depot situated on the

east side of the tracks at Broad and Exchange Streets, some distance from the town's center of

population; Pawtucket, like Mansfield and Canton, would have to grow toward its station.

Much the same seeming mislocation occurred in the nearby village of Central Falls, situated in the

township of Lincoln, where the new depot was placed west of the tracks on Central Street, now in

the city center but then on the fringe of the populated district. The stops at Pawtucket and Central

Falls, which much later were to be combined into a single station, were (wastefully, considering they

served a main line) only 0.45 mile apart, even closer together than Canton and South Canton, yet

trains paused to take and let off passengers at each.[30]

All that remained was for New-York, Providence and Boston – the Stonington line – to join the

party. For a short time they tried running their passenger trains up Dyer Street to get to Union

Station. But in the end they reached the Great Salt Cove terminal and a juncture with Boston and

Providence by laying a new track four miles long from Harbor Junction (called simply by the generic

name "Junction" in later timetables) at Roger Williams Park, in 1848. Construction of Union Station

was completed early in 1848, during a cold winter. Now, Boston and Providence together with the

Stonington line could offer the public true through service, and on Monday, 1 May, the first

“Steamboat Train” ran through without a change of cars from Boston to Stonington, where the passengers transferred to a New York-bound vessel. This crack train, making the customary water

stop at Mansfield, after leaving Providence paused only at Greenwich, Kingston and Westerly on its

flight to Stonington pier. Other, ordinary scheduled passenger trains, however, did not commence

through running until Monday, 12 June. The Boston and Providence‟s new “branch route” opened for travel on 1 May.[31] Union Station officially opened 3 May 1848.[32]

This new Providence arrangement together with the completion of the line from Mansfield to New

Bedford proved a stimulating shot in the arm for Boston and Providence Rail Road. Not only was

their Boston to New York rail-water service invigorated, helping to head off the upstart Fall River

boat service and the midland or "air line" railroads, but they handled increasing quantities of freight

and passengers headed for Boston from New Bedford.

The faithful cross-harbor ferry that for so long had connected the Boston and Providence with the

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Stonington line was, says Belcher, "joyfully discarded." Thus the new through arrangement assured

that not only hogs but human passengers could travel (to coin a phrase) in hog heaven.

As to McNeill's old main line to Seekonk and on across the Seekonk River movable bridge to

India Point, that was relegated to a branch with no regular passenger trains until about 1880, after

which local passenger service and occasional boat trains were run to India Point and thence to

Bristol. But for some time to come, Boston and Providence disrupted city traffic in Providence and

made a general nuisance of itself by using horses to haul freight cars and smelly stock cars along a

track laid on South Water Street from Union Station to their old India Point yards.[33]

Reading northward from Providence Union Station, the Boston and Providence Rail Road now

listed its station stops as follows:

Miles Station Later called

0 PROVIDENCE

4-1/2 PAWTUCKET PAWTUCKET AND CENTRAL FALLS

10 EAST JUNCTION AND HEBRONVILLE

HEBRONVILLE

11-1/2 DODGEVILLE

12-1/2 ATTLEBOROUGH ATTLEBORO

17-1/2 TOBIT'S WEST MANSFIELD

19-1/2 MANSFIELD

22 FOXBOROUGH EAST FOXBORO

26 SHARON

29-1/2 CANTON CANTON JUNCTION

33 DEDHAM VILLAGE

35 DEDHAM LOW PLAINS READVILLE

38-1/2 TOLL GATE

40 JAMAICA PLAIN(S)

41-1/2 ROXBURY

43-1/2 BOSTON[34]

336

NOTES

1. Swanson and Duane (1978) write that “The records of those [ex-Conrail] companies which identified with the

Boston area went to Baker Library” at Harvard University (courtesy of L. Schneider 2006). 2. Although the Dedham Branch was officially part of Boston & Providence its accounts were carried on separate

books from the date of its opening in 1835 to at least as late as the Sept. 1846 payroll. Customized forms also were

printed for the Dedham Branch in 1846 (A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002).

3. "Miscellaneous" includes such jobs as "Work done on drain," "Taking up platform," "Fueling stationary engine,"

"Pumping water," "Work on coal platform," "Moving signs" and other various tasks. Two men named Fish and Gates

among their other duties spent a half day each at 88 cents "Building house for Nason," Daniel Nason being the railroad's

agent at Boston.

4. Davis remained with Boston & Providence many years; in 1883 he was a roadmaster on the Boston end.

5. Salary and wage comparisons from evidence of Prof. John J. McCusker of Trinity University, San Antonio,

Texas, who was consulted by Levitt.

6. Babbitt, born in Taunton, Mass. in 1799, was a goldsmith and inventor. In 1824 he was one of the founders of

the whitesmithing industry that grew into the Taunton silver firm of Reed & Barton. In 1839 Babbitt took out patents on

a very hard Britannia-metal alloy (which became known as Babbitt metal, though William Porter was the inventor) and

for its use in a railroad car anti-friction journal box, for which in 1841 he received a $20,000 award from Congress.

Babbitt later went on to a brilliant and remunerative career at South Boston Iron Works (Gibb 1943: 73, 390, 391; see his

portrait facing p. 4). He came to a sad end; suffering from overwork and strain, he was committed to a Somerville, Mass.

asylum where he died in 1862.

7. Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11.

8. Some interesting but not really conclusive correspondence on the subject of the accounting (not actual) use of

shillings in the U. S. ensued in 1999 between A. M. Levitt and Nicholas Holmes, Curator of Numismatics at Royal

Scottish Museums, Edinburgh; numismatist Harrington E. Manville, Washington, D. C.; Prof. Peter Gaspar, Washington

Univ., St. Louis, Mo.; and Eric P. Newman of the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Soc., St. Louis; from which the

following information was elicited.

Foreign coins, both gold and silver, were legal tender in the U. S. until 1857, but most of those in circulation were

Spanish dollars roughly equal to the U. S. dollar and were worth 8 reales. No English sterling shillings circulated in

America, and it was considered a foreign exchange item if a shilling came to the U. S. In New England from colonial

times the familiar Spanish dollar equalled 6 shillings @ 16-2/3 cents; the Yankees became adept at calculating odd

amounts and readily converted 16-2/3 cents, 33-1/3 cents and 66-2/3 cents to decimal values. In New York the Spanish

dollar equalled 8 shillings @ 12-1/2 cents; only in that state was the shilling called a bit because it equalled 1 real or

1/8th of a Spanish dollar. In Virginia the shilling also was worth 12-1/2 cents. This different exchange rate may have

been a carryover from colonial times when the currencies of the several colonies were not on a par.

Newman suggested that workers from Ireland or England could have had their wages counted up but not actually paid

in shillings, thus "it was perfectly possible to have two payroll standards for a New England project because of different

sources of workers." But none of this explains why employers, paymasters and employes thought in terms of English

shillings more than a half century after the Revolution when U. S. coins were everywhere available in familiar decimal

values that even an illiterate man could add and subtract.

337

George F. Fisher writes that during the period c1835-40 Spanish and Mexican silver ninepence (12-1/2 U. S. cents)

and fourpence ha'penny (6-1/4 cents) pieces were among the non-American coinage circulating in New England.

However, there were no British coins of those denominations; British coinage consisted of even fractions of or multiples

of a shilling (A. M. Levitt pers. comms. 1999). The U. S. half cent coin was minted between 1793 and 1857, so its use

was not uncommon, but no such thing as a U. S. coin worth 1/3 or 2/3 cent ever existed. By Act of Congress 3 Mar. 1843

English gold was legal tender at 94.6 cents per pennyweight, a pennyweight being 0.05 troy ounce or 1.555 grams (OFA

1848: 4).

Levitt (2002: 3-4), like Newman, speculates that "The use of shillings might be explained as having been for the

benefit of recent immigrants from England, Scotland, or Ireland whose 'money-of-account' thinking would likely have

been in pounds, shillings and pence. But unexplained is the billing, by local merchants, for some goods in shillings

amongst others in dollars." Certainly Babbitt and Kinsley were not recent immigrants!

Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 173) reproduces a work and pay schedule used in the office of the Utica & Schenectady R. R.

repair shops in October 1839 in which the pay of the workers is given in shillings; he notes that one shilling was equal to

12-1/2 cents or one-eighth of a dollar, now the traditional U. S. value of the shilling or "bit" (hence the expression "two

bits" for a quarter dollar). Boston & Providence appears to have reckoned the shilling at the New England standard of

16-2/3 cents or six shillings to a dollar (Levitt ed. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11). Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 345) points out,

however, that the smallest passenger fare charged by the Boston & Worcester R. R. was 12-1/2 cents regardless of how

short the trip; fares for longer trips were in multiples of 12-1/2, for example 37-1/2 cents. These fares conform to the

New York rather than the New England standard value for the shilling.

Despite fairly extensive searches into the relevant literature of the time, I have been unable to find any reference to

shillings or pence or their equivalents being used in New England between 1820 and 1860 as a legal medium of

exchange. Thus far, the apparent and seemingly illogical use of "English money" in B&P's accounting remains a

mystery.

9. In NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11; A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002. It is known, however, that two classes of tickets

were sold as early as 1837, at least on boat trains operated by Boston & Providence and the Stonington railroad.

10. Thoreau writes (Journal 19 Oct. 1855) of a Concord Irishman: "Riordan also buys the old railroad sleepers at three

dollars a hundred, but they are much decayed and full of sand." Apparently they were used for firewood.

11. Neither Levitt nor I can account for the odd use of tons in measuring the chestnut piles or the use of 6/40 as a

fraction.

12. All information about Boston & Providence wood invoices and payables, including those covering the chestnut

piles, is from A. M. Levitt, pers. comms. 2002. As previously mentioned, Levitt's collection also includes Boston &

Worcester R. R. fuel tickets or tokens for the locomotives Mars and Comet (both wood) and Mercury (coal) dated "186-."

13. FWP--Mass. 1937: 70.

14. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 10.

15. OFA 1848: 38, 1849: 45, from Ann. repts. of the railroad corps. in the state of Mass. 1848; C. Fisher 1939: 69;

NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11.

16. Spofford 1860; Harlow 1946: 199.

17. From the present Boston South Station to New Haven via the Shore Line is 156.81 miles; via the former Air Line

(thanks to the floods and washouts of Aug. 1955 no longer a continuous route) was 139.99 miles (mileages from

NYNH&H employe timetables).

338

18. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 12.

19. De Lue 1925: 235-6.

20. Falla 2003.

21. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 32; NHRAA 1940-52; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11-12.

22. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

23. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 12.

24. Jacobs 1926 in Hall and Wuchert 1983 v. 1: 33; FWP-RI 1937: 90; E. Lewis 1973: 18; Ozog 1984: 7; NHRAA

1940-52/2002: 12.

25. Tefft was born in Richmond, R. I., 3 Aug. 1826. This brilliant young man started early! – in 1846 at the age of 20

he designed Lawrence Hall, the octagonal library at Williams College, Mass., and in 1850-51, while still a student at

Brown University, planned a major renovation to the old Rhode Island statehouse. After being graduated from a

scientific course at Brown in 1851 he went on to study architecture in Providence, following which he supplied designs

for a number of public and private buildings. Tefft traveled to Europe in 1856 to study art, but his career was cut short by

his premature death in Florence, Italy, 12 Dec. 1859. While in Europe, Tefft anticipated the coming of the Euro when he

announced his idea of a common currency for all nations; the main features of his concept were adopted by 19 countries

in 1867!

26. Journal 6 Dec. 1854; Thoreau on that date lectured in Railroad Hall..

27. Information relating to Providence station has been drawn from NRHS 1947: 6; Alexander 1970: 282; E. Lewis

1973: 77; and Francis in Dubiel 1974: 5, 7, 39. See Alexander p. 282, Lewis p. 77 and Dubiel p. 27 and 65 for

photographs of the completed station, and Dubiel p. 37 for a view following the fire that destroyed the building. After the

replacement station was finished the city of Providence held up its use for two years with injunction suits. Its location

remained a burr under the saddle of some Providence citizens for decades. The present Amtrak depot stands a short

distance west of the former station.

28. Ozog 1984: 10.

29. The date is from Barrett 1996: 89.

30. Jacobs 1926 in Hall and Wuchert 1983: v. 1, p. 33; Belcher 1938: no. 4; NHRAA 1940-52; NYNH&H 10 Sept.

1941; NRHS 1947: 7; NHRHTA bull. v. 2, n. 1, Feb. 1971: 4; Ozog 1984: 7-8, 10; Humphrey and Clark 1986: 11.

31. Bayles 1891.

32. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 13.

33. OFA 1849: 38; Jacobs 1926 in Hall and Wuchert 1983: v. 1, p. 33; Belcher 1938: no. 4; C. Fisher 1938b: 79;

NHRHTA bull. v. 2, n. 1, Feb. 1971: 4; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 5; Ozog 1984: 7-8; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29; 1986:

11. The usually correct Belcher (1938: no. 4) and J. W. Haines (pers. comm. 1948) say that Union Station opened in Aug.

1848 and that the first train to run through from Boston to Stonington without change did so 8 Aug. The preponderance

of the evidence seems to work against August. C. Fisher (Sept. 1938: 79) says Union Station opened 3 May 1848.

34. Belcher 1938: no. 4. These mileages are questionable. The mileage to Boston according to Am. Ry. Guide 1851: 99

was 43; actually probably about 42.6. Tollgate is listed by A. Lewis c1840 but not by Belcher; named probably after a

toll station on the adjacent Providence turnpike, it was situated at or near the Toll Gate footbridge over the railroad

between Mount Hope and Forest Hills. Belcher also does not list Dedham Village. OFA does not list Dodgeville or

Tobit's until 1852. Tobit's is almost universally misspelled "Tobey's" in all timetables through 1851. Actual mileages

from Providence Union Station in 1848 (as nearly as I can calculate them from New Haven employes' timetable

339

mileages, omitting Pawtucket of whose location I am not certain) probably were: West Jct 4.9, East Jct 9.0, Dodgeville

10.1, Attleborough 11.9, Tobit's 16.2, Mansfield 18.9, Foxborough 21.2, Sharon 25.6, Canton 28.8, Dedham Low Plains

34.2, Toll Gate 38.3, Jamaica Plain 39.4, Roxbury 41.0, Boston 42.6. The current distance from Providence Amtrak

station to Boston South Station is 43.78 miles. From Providence to Stonington in 1851 was 50 miles.

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20 – A future president rides the rails

Having completed for now the story of Providence‟s new medieval Union Station, let‟s backtrack for a moment, before proceeding to further matters, and see how Boston and Providence and the

Taunton Branch were doing financially.

Boston and Providence operating data for 1846: length in miles 43; cost $2,109,455; expenses for

first 11 months $169,679; net earnings for first 11 months $191,196; dividends on par value 8

percent.

For 1847: length in miles 47; cost $2,544,715; expenses $175,346; net earnings $187,982; dividends

on par value 7.5 percent.

Taunton Branch operating data for 1846: length in miles 11; cost $250,000; expenses for first 11

months $97,678; net earnings for first 11 months $25,389; dividends on par value 8 percent. For

1847: length in miles 11; cost $303,742; expenses $85,695; net earnings $28, 214; dividends on par

value 8 percent.[1]

In 1847 Boston and Providence acquired one new locomotive, named Blackstone in honor of the

important river that the corporation had bridged that year. It was of the now-standard 4-4-0 type with

60-inch drive wheels and 14-3/4 by 20-inch cylinders and was built in Roxbury shop by George S.

Griggs. This engine did not remain in Boston and Providence service long enough to receive a

number and was sold by 1858 to Springfield Locomotive Works who resold it to the Amherst,

Belchertown and Palmer Railroad of western Massachusetts, of which Amherst‟s poet Emily Dickinson, in a rare Thoreau-like concession to industrialism, wrote, “I like to see it lap the miles.” This company renamed the engine Amherst. [2]

The Boston and Providence locomotive roster at the end of 1847 contained at least nine and

perhaps as many as 15 engines: Boston, New York, Providence, King Philip, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol,

the second Massachusetts and Blackstone; and possibly Philadelphia, Baldwin 1, 2 and 3 and Young

1 and 2. Besides these, Lincoln and Neponset apparently idled in storage, because they were sold in

1863 to that corporate collector of outmoded engines the Boston, Hartford and Erie. The year 1847 is

the end of the eight-year period when the Boston and Providence locomotive roster is uncertain

because the disposition of so many of the earlier engines went unrecorded.

On 19 May 1847, less than a year from their opening, Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing

341

Company put their first engine through its trial paces[3] on the tracks of the handy Taunton Branch,

and completed and sold it on the 29th, thanks in large part to Boston and Providence master

mechanic George S. Griggs, who had given them free use of drawings and casting patterns as well as

his ace mechanic from Roxbury shop. As a result, the early engines turned out by Taunton were

Chinese copies of Boston and Providence power, with inside-connected cylinders.[4]

The Taunton locomotive works, though one of the smaller American shops, built engines from

1847 to 1889, yet the Taunton Branch Rail Road that ran by their doors bought but two of them, in

1848 and 1849, and Boston and Providence, only 11 miles away at the junction in Mansfield,

purchased only nine Taunton engines, five of those between 1883 and 1886; for 18 years from 1865

to 1883 Boston and Providence bought no machines from the Taunton plant, and this despite the fact

that Griggs was a shareholder in the company.[5]

Isaac Stearns in his journal noted (two years after the fact) that a Taunton Branch locomotive

engineer named Cummings, whose brother was engineman on the main line “Steamboat Train” "was killed going from Mansfield to Taunton," but does not say how or exactly where or when. Isaac

continued to travel that road; he wrote in his diary for 13 October 1847 that he went "To cattle show,

Taunton, and back in cars."[6]

* * *

It was in 1847 that something new and useful arrived on the local scene: the true telegraph. Isaac

Stearns's illustrious contemporary, the artist Samuel Finley Breese Morse,[7] who was born in 1791

in Charlestown, Massachusetts, first demonstrated his electromagnetic recording telegraph (which to

be honest was based on the inventions of several others as well as himself) in 1837. Six years then

were wasted as he journeyed about trying to find somebody to bankroll his experiments (the United

States congress, which hasn't changed much in 169 years, was dilatory, the U. S. postmaster general

decided the telegraph was a useless toy, the French government stole his invention and the English

and Russians couldn't care less) before he was able to obtain federal money to string a 40-mile

telegraph wire from Washington to Baltimore, it being used for the first time 24 May 1844 to send

the famous message "What hath God wrought!"

At first, even though the telegraph offices often were placed in railroad stations, the seemingly

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obvious possibilities of telegraphy in actual railroad use were not seen, and the rail rights-of-way

were looked on merely as convenient pathways for erecting poles and stretching wire, much as the

proponents of the earlier telephore had planned to use McNeill's survey route for their line-of-sight

semaphore signaling towers and as present-day communications companies use railroad rights-of-

way to lay fiber-optic lines. On 27 June 1847 Boston and New York were linked for the first time by

telegraph wire, though I am not sure of the route taken -- apparently not by way of Providence. And

in that same year the Rhode Island Magnetic Telegraph Company, newly organized by Providence

Journal owner Henry B. Anthony and a group of local investors, hired an office in Providence union

depot and began building a pole line alongside the Providence and Worcester Railroad to Worcester.

This company transmitted the first purely New England telegraph message on 26 January 1848

between the Rhode Island capital and Worcester. And on 3 February 1848 electric communication

was established between Providence and Boston over a pole line erected along the Boston and

Providence Rail Road, making Providence the communications hub of New England. The wooden

poles were 20 to 25 feet high, set 200 feet apart.[8] Lacking the crossarms that later became familiar

and now have nearly vanished, the single wire was threaded through a ring-shaped insulator

mounted atop each pole. In summer the wire slackened and drooped as it expanded with the heat, but

in winter grew taut.[9] In March the bluebirds, a surer sign of spring than robins to the railroad men

who were the first to see them, would perch on the wire like clothes-pins on a line, and in summer

the swallows.

At first, insulated wire was used, but in the early 1850s it was noticed that, for reasons I am not

enough of an electrical engineer to understand, there were problems in transmitting signals at

reasonable speed along insulated wires, so the familiar bare iron wire was substituted.[10]

Perhaps the most significant aspect of telegraphy was a true invention of Morse‟s – the code. Even

one who has never seen or heard the telegraph in operation knows from "Western" movies that

messages are read audibly by listening to the coded clicks of a sounder. (In the movies the clicks are

faked.) But at the beginning it was not that way; the idea of messages being read by sound just never

occurred to anyone, even though ordinary conversation is "read" by sound every day. The early

messages were sent by key, as was to be the case far into the future, but were received by a

clockwork recording device in which a stylus on the armature impressed dots and dashes into a

constantly moving roll of soft paper tape, the result looking a bit like Braille; these were replaced

before long by ink marks. The tape was then read by eye as it came from the recorder. But before too

long, skilled operators learned to read the sounder by ear without looking at the tape, which at first

no one had believed possible, and by the early 1850s the unnecessary complications of the moving

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tape and its clockwork were dispensed with, besides which sound-only transmission and receipt was

speedier than the previous recording devices.[11]

Transmission speed at first was not much if any greater than messages sent via Chappe's

telephore, but in time, as operators became more practiced and equipment improved, it got better.

The new wire lines were built purely for commercial use and news dispatches, and it was 1851

before a forward-thinking New York and Erie Railroad official named Charles F. Minot had the

brainstorm of using the telegraph for delivering direct running orders to trains. In fact the telegraph

at first was not a sparkling success: wires were apt to be broken down by ice storms and sometimes

were cut by persons who wished to withhold news or feared being harmed by publicity the lines

carried.

At Mansfield the passenger station became the telegraph office, though the noisy device that

chattered away on agent James Greene's table was not in any way connected with the railroad's

operations. The first telegraph office in Boston, though it may not have been part of the line from

Providence, is thought to have been located in the Massachusetts Block, Court Square, on the later

site of Thompson's Spa,[12] in 1847-48.

Having completed the Providence terminal passenger station, Boston and Providence did not

neglect smaller localities along their line. In 1848 they created a stop at West Roxbury which was to

lead to an increase of population in that small suburb.

Now and then Isaac Stearns recorded an unhappy event. He wrote in his journal on 10 February

1849 that "The Monday morning before June 24th [that is, 19 June 1848] Israel Tisdale of

Stoughton, Railroad Commissioner, hung himself in a car about 5 o'clock A. M."[13]

As of 1 August 1848 it was recorded that Boston and Providence dividends on par value for the

first part of the year had paid 3-1/2 percent; and that a new extension to connect the Dedham Branch

with the proposed Norfolk County Railroad was "in progress." Taunton Branch dividends paid 4

percent, as did those of the connecting New Bedford and Taunton Railroad.[14]

* * *

On Tuesday, 12 September 1848, a relatively little known Whig[15] congressman from Illinois

visited Massachusetts on a political speaking tour in which he was beating the drum for the

November election of "Old Rough and Ready" General Zachary Taylor for President of the United

States and Millard Fillmore for Vice President. In an effort to arouse the half-hearted Whigs in

support of Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, between 12 and 22 September, made outstanding use of the

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railroads to address ten political rallies in eight Massachusetts communities. (In unfriendly

Dorchester, a crowd of Democrats threw sticks and stones at him and his party, but as far as I know

did not succeed in breaking any bones.) Everywhere he spoke, he urged freedom for the slaves,

despite the truth that candidate Taylor kept 300 slaves on his Louisiana plantation.

Lincoln at the time was 39 years old and was in the last year of his term in congress. He arrived in

New England 11 September at Allyn's Point, Norwich, Connecticut, by steamboat from New York.

There he transferred to a train of the Norwich and Worcester, which took him to the latter city, where

on the 13th he addressed the 1848 Whig Convention at City Hall and that night was feasted by a

distant kinsman, former Massachusetts Governor Levi Lincoln, at his palatial mansion. On the 14th

he left from the Foster Street depot aboard the Providence and Worcester morning train for

Providence, where he delivered a speech in Railroad Hall on the second floor of Union Station.

Then, at 11:45 a. m. he climbed aboard a Boston and Providence train for Mansfield.

Arriving at that junction about 12:30, the treetop-tall, clean-shaven, bushy-haired man, a carpetbag

swinging from his big hand, accompanied presumably by some political associates, tromped across

the plank platform and into Jim Greene's station, bought a ticket for New Bedford (in 1851 the fare

was 90 cents for the 31 miles, so probably it was not much different in 1848), where he had another

speaking engagement, and shortly climbed aboard a southbound train of the Taunton Branch, where

he tried to accommodate his gangly six feet three and a half inches to a seat designed for the five-

foot-seven-inch average man. (Some day they‟d have to make train seats bigger.)

Next morning, 15 September, Lincoln left New Bedford for Boston, the trip taking him back

through Mansfield. On the 20th, during his six days of political speeches in and around The Hub,

including a side trip to Lowell, he took a Boston and Providence train out to Dedham (one of his

companions, George Monroe, noted afterward that "In the cars he scarcely said a word" and "seemed

uneasy") and spoke for not much more than a half hour at a daytime rally of the Whig Club in

Temperance Hall. Urged by his audience to prolong his address, Lincoln said, "I have kept my word

with you and must do the same by the Cambridge people in the evening and must run for the cars."

The Whigs, with a band from Dorchester, escorted him to his train.

Lincoln returned by rail on 21 September via Mansfield to Taunton, where he had a daytime

speaking engagement in Mechanics Hall, a one-story building that in 1875 was moved to the yard of

the Reed and Barton Company, where it was used as a storehouse. His principal Taunton speech was

delivered that night in Union Hall, upstairs over the store of Foster and Lawrence on Winthrop

Street. Lincoln stayed in Taunton overnight, no one knows where, and the following day took the

train through Mansfield back to Boston, from which he left on the 23rd via the Boston and Worcester

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for Worcester, changing there to Whistler's Western Railroad for Albany and Niagara Falls. Whether

he stopped or detrained at Mansfield on 21 and 22 September is not certain. At least one historian

has claimed there was no physical connection at Mansfield between the tracks of the Boston and

Providence and the Taunton Branch, which, if true, would have necessitated a walk into the depot to

buy tickets from James Greene before changing cars. But this supposition is untenable; Lincoln quite

likely passed through Mansfield aboard trains that stopped only to change engines.[16]

* * *

On 10 November 1848 the Taunton Branch Rail Road Corporation sold to Nathaniel Dorr and

Theodore Otis land at Mansfield depot for the purpose of laying out and building a road or street,

probably Crocker Street. Otis was an attorney, and he and Dorr, who had been an officer of one of

the failed Mansfield coal mines, seem to have been lotting off parcels of land and proposed streets in

that undeveloped part of Mansfield bordering on the railroads, illustrating the reaching-out move that

the town was making in the direction of its depot. They called their project "Branchville" after its

proximity to the Taunton Branch.[17]

Two more steps toward completion of a through Boston-to-New York shoreline rail system were

taken when on 14 June 1848 the New Haven and New London Railroad was chartered in

Connecticut with authority to build a 50-mile road between those two towns; and two days after

Christmas of that year the New York and New Haven Railroad, chartered in 1844, was opened for a

length of about 62 miles from Williams' Bridge, then a town in Westchester, New York, to Mill River

Junction, New Haven. This line shortly after reached an agreement with the New York and Harlem

Railroad to operate from Williams‟ Bridge to the New York City terminus at Canal Street, near Broadway, the cars being hauled by horses between Canal and 42nd Street. Before long this railroad

was bringing nearly 1000 daily passengers into Manhattan, which was described in a railway guide

as a "thriving village, pleasantly situated and surrounded by hills."[18]

* * *

Boston and Providence in 1848 acquired four new locomotives: Taghonic, Narragansett, Iron

Horse and Rhode Island, all 4-4-0 types constructed in Roxbury shop.

The long-legged Taghonic was built for speed: she carried 66-inch drive wheels, previously seen

only on the 1835 English engine New York, and had cylinders 14-3/4 inches in diameter with an 18-

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inch piston stroke. Narragansett had much smaller drivers, 54 inches, with 16 by 20-inch cylinders,

and so was a puller rather than a racer. Both locomotives apparently were unsuccessful, because

although the railroad did not sell them until 1877 and 1878, respectively, they must have spent 20

years sitting on a back track with cold fireboxes and canvas bags tied over their stacks, because

neither survived in active service long enough to receive road numbers between 1855 and 1858.

Iron Horse was a compromise engine with conventional 60-inch wheels and 14-3/4 by 18-inch

cylinders.[19] It later was numbered 3 and gave up its rather unimaginative name for Hyde Park;

some time before 1858 it was sold to the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad, which scrapped it

in 1878. Rhode Island was another racehorse with 66-inch drivers and 14-3/4 by 20 cylinders, but

was rebuilt in 1867 with more modest 60-inch wheels and 15-1/2 by 20-inch cylinders that gave it

greater hauling power, and was scrapped in 1884.

Also in 1848 Boston and Providence sold their old 1835 rust-bucket 2-2-0 Canton, which must

have languished amid the daisies for ten years, to the new Norfolk County Railroad.[20]

Thus the Boston and Providence engine roster at the end of 1848 appears to have included the

following: Boston, New York, perhaps Providence, King Philip, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol, the second

Massachusetts, Blackstone, Taghonic, Narragansett, Iron Horse and Rhode Island, perhaps

Philadelphia, and possibly Baldwin 1, 2 and 3 and Young 1 and 2. It seems likely that with the

addition of four new engines in 1848 some of the older power was retired or scrapped, though the

archives are not very enlightening on this possibility. From 1848 on, the Boston and Providence

locomotive roster, because of better record keeping, is relatively more certain and complete. Lincoln

was still stored unserviceable, although if the railroad's management had realized that Congressman

Abraham Lincoln would one day become President of the United States they might have made some

effort to get that engine, even though named for another Lincoln, shined up and fitted for service in

his honor!

One problem that obviously troubled master mechanic George S. Griggs was (as mentioned

before) the lack of brakes on locomotive driving wheels. A hand brake on the tender held the engine

in place when it made station or water stops, but with no brakes on the driving wheels the tender

brake was ineffective in slowing a moving train. Although trainmen became skilled at the use of the

hand brakes on the cars, stopping a train at a predetermined point on a downgrade, as when making

northbound halts at Canton or southbound at Foxborough or Mansfield, was a real art. With the

Le Chatelier water brake and the far more effective Westinghouse air brake still in the future,[21] the

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engineman had no option but to whistle for the trainmen to lean on the car hand brakes and to throw

his machine into reverse by means of a tall lever, and not only was reversing an awkward procedure

with the sliding single eccentric valve gear used on English imports and their American imitators,

and with Long's and Norris's improved double eccentric and hook-motion valve gear patented in

1833 and by 1840 used by all American builders,[22] it was likely to be counter-productive, as on

rails wet or frosty or covered with wet fallen leaves the back-spinning drive wheels could allow the

train to slide forward as though on greased track.

In January 1848 Griggs had outfitted two of his home-built 4-4-0 engines (which ones I don't

know, unfortunately[23]) with a steam brake of his invention – the first in the United States as far as

is known, though George Stephenson had tinkered with them in England in 1833 when he applied a

small steam cylinder that operated brake shoes on one of his locomotives.[24] Atop the boiler Griggs

mounted a vertical eight-inch-diameter brake cylinder with a piston connected by rodding and levers

to brake shoes located between the drivers. We have the word of one of Griggs's shop associates (and

later master mechanic) George Richards that the invention worked well. But 13 months later it was

to be given up because of a particularly gruesome accident, which I shall come to in its place, that

was blamed on the steam brake but in reality had nothing to do with it.[25]

The Taunton Branch also put a new locomotive on the rails, their first in eight years. This, for a

logical and appropriate change, was built by the on-line Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing

Company (construction number 21) 13 September 1848, while Congressman Lincoln was visiting

the area. It was a 4-4-0, the railroad's first, with 60-inch drive wheels and 15 by 20-inch cylinders,

and was named Alfred Gibbs. This engine was used on both its home road and the New Bedford and

Taunton. What ultimately happened to it is not known, but it was gone from the Taunton Branch

roster before 1888.[26]

Thus at the end of 1848 the Taunton Branch owned four locomotives: Taunton, Rocket, Meteor

and Alfred Gibbs.

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NOTES

1. OFA 1848: 38, 1849: 38.

2. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii. Dickinson‟s railroad poem is no. 585. 3. Lozier 1986: 412. I recommend that anyone interested in the Taunton locomotive builders should read Lozier pp.

396-520. His detailed account covers every aspect, mechanical, financial and human, of the locomotive business in

Taunton.

4. When this first locomotive was about ready to go, chief mechanic Willard Walcott Fairbanks (later to become

company president) noticed that the paint job was imperfect and called the foreman on the carpet. This was only three

months after General Zachary Taylor, nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready," had won the battle of Buena Vista in the

Mexican-American War and along with it considerable newsworthy popularity that led eventually to the presidency. The

foreman assured Fairbanks of the engine, "She's rough but she's ready." So Fairbanks decided to give the locomotive that

name. Rough and Ready and a twin sister went to the Eastern R. R. of Massachusetts.

5. Alexander 1941: 236; White 1968-79: 322; Lozier 1978-86: 410, 419; Levasseur 1994: 33-34.

6. Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 711, 674.

7. Morse, an anti-Catholic, was a "notable nativist politician and publicist" as well as an artist and inventor (Knobel

1986: 147).

8. That appears to have been the spacing on the Fitchburg R. R.; Thoreau (Journal 23 July 1860) says "a dozen rods

apart," a rod being 16.5 feet. He being a land surveyor, his estimate probably was a good one, although the spacing later

was standardized at 88 feet – handy for steam enginemen trying to estimate their speed because the poles were set 60 to

the mile. On 28 Aug. 1851 (op. cit.) Thoreau was underwhelmed by the erecting process: "I find three or four ordinary

laborers to-day putting up the necessary outdoor fixtures for a magnetic telegraph from Boston to Burlington [Vt.]. They

carry along a basket full of simple implements, like travelling tinkers, and, with a little rude soldering, and twisting, and

straightening of wires, the work is done. It is a work which seems to admit of the greatest latitude of ignorance and

bungling, and as if you might set your hired man with the poorest head and hands to building a magnetic telegraph. . . .

Somebody had told them what he wanted, and sent them forth with a coil of wire . . . . It seems not so wonderful an

invention as a common cart or plow." Unlike the later two-wire or "metallic" telephone circuit, for the telegraph a single

overhead wire was strung, with the ground serving as a return.

9. Thoreau, Journal 9 July 1852.

10. A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2003. "The reason for this . . . was thought to be the 'retardation of signals' caused by

friction induced by the insulation!" Perhaps the real reason was that uninsulated wire was cheaper. When the wind blew

across the bare wire there occurred the phenomenon, familiar to me in my youth, that Thoreau so frequently called "the

telegraph harp," when by pressing an ear to the pole one could listen to the humming music from above – some folks

thought it was the sound of messages passing through the wire and that by carefully listening one might eavesdrop.

349

11. Levitt (2002: 7) raises the interesting question as to why the early telegraph companies "did not adopt the 'ABC'

or 'speaking' or 'dial' telegraphy system . . . . This technology, dating to the mid-1830s, is based on the sending and

receiving of individual letters and numbers or messages (rather than sequences of dots and dashes), similar in manner to

the later Teletype. 'ABC' messages do not have to be 'translated' into dots and dashes before transmission, and then re-

translated at the receiving end. Although the 'ABC' system had a higher initial cost, the level or risk of error was

significantly less and the speed of transmission/receipt meaningfully greater. 'ABC' systems could also provide direct

eye-readable copies of messages . . . ." The ABC or "needle" instrument actually preceded the dot-dash receiver when

Andre Ampere in France proved in 1820 that small magnets at the ends of 26 wires could be used to indicate the letters

of the alphabet. Ampere's apparatus was the pioneer of several needle instruments that came into being between 1829

and 1841. The American Joseph Henry in 1831 devised a system by which a bell was used to give coded sounds. By

1900 or so, some U. S. railroads used a method by which a pointer indicated letters or numbers on a dial located at the

receiving station. But for land communication in the U. S., Morse's dot-dash method seems to have swept nearly all

other systems out of its path, and it is difficult to argue with such universal success. By the time telegraph wire was

strung along the Boston & Providence the stylus method of impressing dots and dashes most likely had been replaced by

short or long ink marks made along the center of the tape. Morse, quick to recognize the superiority of the "by ear"

method of telegraphy and seeing that Americans were not concerned by the seeming disadvantage of the absence of a

printed record of the message, introduced a purpose-built sounder in 1850 (A. M. Levitt pers. comms. 2003).

After completion of the Atlantic cable in 1866 the telegraph code was divided into American Landline Morse, used by

the railroads, and International; the dot-dash symbols for letters and numbers differ somewhat between the two.

12. Anon.: Attleboro Sun 19 Feb. 1938; J. W. Haines pers. comm. 1948; Lufkin 1948; Beebe and Clegg 1952: 56

(sketch). In 1851 the first distribution of precise time to the railroads and others who required it was introduced, based on

accurate time kept at Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., and transmitted through the telegraph lines.

Whether the Boston and Providence availed itself of this service I do not know, but considering the railroad's convenient

proximity to Cambridge it seems likely.

13. Buck c1980, v. 3, p. 711.

14. OFA 1849: 38, from Ann. repts. of the railroad corps. in the state of Mass. 1848.

15. The now-forgotten Whig party, formed c1834 to oppose the Jacksonian Democrats, supported manufacturing,

commercial and financial interests and was supplanted by the Republican party about 1853.

16. Belcher 1938: no. 4; Mansfield News 17 Sept. 1948; Lufkin 1948; Johnson 1965; Francis in Dubiel 1974: 64.

Lufkin's pictorial map portrays the supposed but probably incorrect separation between Boston & Providence and

Taunton Branch (incorrectly labeled "New Bedford & Taunton Branch R. R. of Boston & Providence R. R.") at

Mansfield. The map also contains small sketches of the passenger stations at Boston (Boston & Providence, Boston &

Lowell, Boston & Worcester, Fitchburg, all well separated from one another as if to make interline travel as awkward as

possible – but the railroads were interested in getting passengers into the city, not through it), Dedham, Lowell,

Mansfield, New Bedford, North Cambridge, Providence (Union), Taunton, and Worcester. While in New England,

Lincoln rode trains of the Boston & Providence, Boston & Lowell, Boston & Worcester, Fitchburg, New Bedford &

Taunton, Norwich & Worcester, Providence & Worcester, Taunton Branch, and Western railroads. J. W. Haines, former

Mansfield chief of police and a distinguished Lincoln scholar, read a paper on the future president's 1848 train travels in

southeastern New England before the Lincoln Group in Boston, 18 Sept. 1948. Lincoln bought his tickets (if he bought

them at Mansfield) probably in what is now the living room of the former depot, which still stands on West St. in

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Mansfield as a private residence.

17. The Dorr-Otis deed was recorded at Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, Mass., 18 Nov. 1848, v.

189, p. 403-4. Dorr died before he could develop the property and the various parcels were sold at public auction. Isaac

Stearns writes to his sister Susanna Stearns 28 May 1852, "I finish my letter by saying that I was at an Auction sale near

Mansfield Railroad Depot where 50 building lots were advertised for sale. 14 were sold. I bid off one of them." Might

this not have been the future site of Stearns's long-lived stationery store at 262 North Main St.? On 29 Nov. 1848 and 4

Sept. 1849 Nathaniel Dorr et al. transferred by warranty deeds to Boston and Providence three parcels of land in

Mansfield; for some reason these were not recorded at Taunton until 6 Dec. 1869, in Book 301, pp. 194-195. Our old

friend, railroad contractor Willard Manuel, in 1848 and '49 bought two lots of land from Dorr in "Branchville" on the

east side of Washington St. (North Main St.). In the deeds, where in those days it was standard practice to list a person's

occupation, Manuel is styled "Gentleman."

18. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 13, 14; New York Times 26 Dec. 1948 in NHRHTA Bull. n. 11, Nov. 2002.

19. See Sweeney 2006: 7 for a photo (from J. W. Swanberg collection) of this engine taken at Dedham in 1850. It is

a typical Griggs inside-connected 4-4-0 with a large stack and 6-wheel tender.

20. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 84; Edson 1981: xvii.

21. George Westinghouse patented his "atmospheric brake" in 1869 but like many safety improvements it had to be

force-fed to the railroads by state and federal authorities, and more than two decades passed before the air brake was in

common use. Driving wheel brakes were little used before 1875 (White 1968-79: 184). The first use of the Westinghouse

automatic air brake on a Boston & Providence train appears to have occurred 14 May 1874 (Mansfield News 15 May

1874). Yet as C. Fisher points out, a surprisingly good degree of train control could be obtained by experienced

brakemen using the manual brakes on the cars.

22. White 1968-79: 188. The common V-hook often failed to engage properly (Lozier 1986: 421).

23. The only 4-4-0s known to a reasonable certainty to have been in Boston & Providence service in January 1848

were: No. 1, Norfolk, and No. 2, 2nd Massachusetts. Three other 4-4-0s, all unnumbered, may have been in B&P service

at that date: Suffolk, Bristol and Blackstone. These were gone from the roster by 1858, but how long before 1858 is not

known. Four more engines were built for B&P in 1848: Taghonic, Narragansett, No. 3, Iron Horse, and No. 4, Rhode

Island; but unless two of these were delivered at the start of the year it seems unlikely they would have been candidates

for the application of new brakes in January.

24. White 1968-79: 184; San Diego R. R. Museum 1999.

25. Reed 1968: 142; White 1968-79: 184.

26. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 71; C. Fisher 1938a: 48; Edson 1981: xvi.

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21 – The Canton viaduct horror

Isaac Stearns outdoes himself in recording his short-distance railroad journeys in the year 1849.

From February to March he was working at Stephen F. Tillson's textile factory in Canton. The

following entries are from his journal:

Rode from Canton to East Foxboro in 2nd Class Cars, and arrived home in the evening. [20

January.]

I took the cars this morning, and went to Boston. [Visited the State House.] Went to Roxbury, . . .

and walked to Jamaica lower plain Depot and took the evening train for Canton. [30 January.]

Took evening train for home at [sic] Mansfield with O. Scott [Stearns]. [3 February.]

Saturday evening. Myself and O. Scott [Stearns] walked home [from Canton to Mansfield] on the

Rail Road. [3 March.]

Went back to Canton [from Mansfield] in the 4 o'clock train and arrived at Tilson's Factory and

went to work at 5 1/2 o'clock. [5 March.]

Went to Boston. Got into the cars at South Canton at 7:30 A. M.; fare, 40 cents. [9 April.][1]

But in the midst of these routine jottings comes a terse entry on 10 February that chills the blood:

Engineer of the steamboat train going to Boston this morning crossing the viaduct at Canton was

instantly killed by the bursting of the engine. His body thrown against the side of the viaduct so as to

cause instant death, his head smashed all to pieces, one eye could not be found – his brains scattered

upon the stones. His name was Lucius Cummings, belonging to Roxbury where he had a wife and

one child. His wife is said to [have] become crazy by the event. His brother by the name of ------

Cummings was killed going from Mansfield to Taunton two years ago.[2]

The unlucky “Steamboat Train” had experienced problems before, including a derailment on

Sharon hill. In fact there had been at least three or four previous train accidents on the Boston and

Providence, in one case the head-on collision that resulted in the death of an employe and serious

and costly injuries to several passengers (this may or may not have involved the boat train), in

another a derailment that killed two riders. But, lest readers think my use of the word "horror"

excessively dramatic, nothing quite like this. In today's "civilized" times, when we seem to have

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become inured to the indefensible 43,000 annual deaths and more than two million injuries and

disabilities on United States highways, not to mention wanton murders, terrorist bombings, plane

crashes, all-too-frequent pointless wars and television's never-ending gratuitous diet of gunplay and

violence, it is hard to realize the impact such a single accident must have made on the minds of the

people of that relatively safe, sane and peaceable era. War (the Mexican-American War then being

the most recent) caused horrible mutilations and fatalities, but in those days before military drafts,

aerial bombing and television cameras on the battlefield, war was remote from the average person.

People are quick to assign the wrong reasons for apparently unexplained events, and the Canton

boiler explosion was popularly thought to have been caused by the steam brake that George Griggs

had installed on the engine in January 1848. But the real cause was a faulty safety valve that allowed

steam pressure to build far beyond its allowable limit, so that the boiler shell ruptured suddenly from

excess pressure acting against a weak point – a riveted joint in the boiler plate or a spot where the

internal pressure exceeded the tensile strength of the shell.[3] Nevertheless, the "steam jams" were

promptly removed and never used again on Boston and Providence.

What locomotive could this have been that met so sudden and violent an end? One would expect

Boston and Providence to use its newest and best power on the crack “Steamboat Train.” The steam-

operated brakeshoes are described as having been "fitted between the driving wheels,"[4] which

suggests that the fatal engine was a 4-4-0 type. Only five Boston and Providence engines of that

wheel arrangement appear to have been on the railroad in January 1848 and still in service in

February 1849. Two of these, No. 1, Norfolk, and No. 2, second Massachusetts, survived until well

after the explosion, the former until after 1855, though its ultimate disposition is not known, and the

latter until 1881, when it was scrapped. Thus neither of these is a candidate. And yet the other three

4-4-0s that meet the date criteria, Suffolk, Bristol and Blackstone (all evidently out of active service

by 1858 because they were not included in the 1855-58 numbering) survived in some form or other

to be sold at later dates: Suffolk in 1868, Bristol in 1869 and Blackstone at an unknown time.

Of course, the remains of an exploded engine can be sold, perhaps for pieces and parts – the

wheels, frame and tender, for example – and a new boiler can be applied, but surviving evidence

does not permit us to more than hazard a guess at the identity of the locomotive (Blackstone?) that

took engineman Lucius Cummings to glory on Canton viaduct in such a horrible way.

In 1849 Boston and Providence acquired three new engines, all of the 4-4-0 type. Providence, the

second engine of that name (proof that the original Providence was no longer in use), was built by

Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company (their construction number 30) with 60-inch drive

wheels and inside-connected[5] 15 by 18-inch cylinders. Taunton-built engines, though near the end

353

of the line in looks, giving the impression of being cobbled-together and cluttery, and lacking in the

artistic design that was to characterize the Mason engines built later in the same town, had big

boilers and steam pipes and loose-jointed motion and bearings and were known as "smart

runners."[6] Providence evidently gave reasonably good service because it was not scrapped until

1869; thus it could not have been the engine destroyed in the viaduct explosion.

Barrett (1996: 92) prints a photograph of the well-polished number 5 departing Pleasant Street

depot on the point of a passenger train, through the two-way and even three-way stub switches with

their oversized switch stands. The date is given as "ca. 1870."

Canton and Neponset (both the second engines to carry those names) were built by George Griggs

at Roxbury shop. Canton had 60-inch drivers, Neponset 66, and both carried 14-3/4 by 20-inch

inside cylinders. Second Neponset was to enjoy an interesting career. It continued in Boston and

Providence service until sold to Boston, Hartford and Erie, which passed it on to the Rhode Island

Locomotive Works in 1883, and presumably after some tinkering and refurbishing was resold to the

Northern Adirondack Railroad in 1885. The second Canton did not survive in active service long

enough to receive a number and must have spent close to ten years rusting on a yard track before

being sold in 1867 to an unknown buyer.[7] Apparently, then, neither of these was the locomotive

hauling the “Steamboat Train” on 10 February 1849. This ended a purchasing flurry beginning in 1845 during which the Boston and Providence

acquired 12 new locomotives, mostly to replace those older machines that had served the road since

the earliest years.

The road's probable roster of active power at end of 1849 was as follows: Boston, New York, King

Philip, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol, second Massachusetts, Blackstone, Taghonic, Narragansett, Iron

Horse, Rhode Island, second Providence, second Canton and second Neponset; a total of 15 engines.

Meanwhile, the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, thanks to its penetration by two up-and-

coming little railroads and the business they brought, was enjoying good times. Over the ten-year

period from 1840 to 1850 the population of Taunton had increased 35 percent from 7645 to 10,145

and Mansfield during the same decade had grown from 1346 to 1905, an increase of 42 percent;

while from 1843 to 1849 the combined passenger and freight revenues of the Taunton Branch

jumped 32 percent and those of the New Bedford and Taunton for the same period grew 63

percent.[8] The branch to Fall River, turning off from the New Bedford line at Myrick's, added to the

prosperity of those parts. A book published in 1849, referring to Boston and Providence, says, not

altogether correctly, "The most important branch of the road in Massachusetts is that from

Mansfield, twenty four miles from Boston, which passes to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford,

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completed in 1840."[9]

One event that at least for a time must have helped the Boston and Providence gain more traffic

was the completion on 23 April 1849 of the Norfolk County Railroad over it's full 28-mile length

diagonally across-country from the Providence road at Readville through Walpole, Norfolk and

Franklin to Blackstone, where it connected with the Providence and Worcester.[10] At its northeast

end this new road was to tie in with Boston and Providence's 5.3-mile West Roxbury Branch from

Forest Hills to Dedham, which would open in June 1850, giving it double access to Boston.

But this proved a double-sided coin. In the beginning, the New England railroads had been looked

on as public benefits but of doubtful value as paying investments. The Boston and Providence stood

the second half of this assumption on its head as their dividends rose from 6 to 8 percent, while other

Massachusetts roads did as well or better. But as the first half of the 19th century neared its end “the accumulated capital of the community could not supply the frequent calls for payment on railroad

shares, and railroad obligations were sold at continually increasing rates of discount.” The Norfolk County road was opened to the public 16 May 1849. But (an ominous indication) on the very next

day it made an assignment of all its property for the benefit of its creditors, the first instance of a

railroad financial failure in New England.[11]

Because the new road shared the Boston and Providence right-of-way between Readville and

Boston, it remained dependent on the older line and for just over a year its trains were hauled over

the last 8-1/2 miles into the city on Boston and Providence rails. The Norfolk company, not pleased

at this, wished to build a road of their own from Dedham to Boston, parallel to Boston and

Providence. But their old enemy, East Walpole industrialist Francis William Bird, whose grudge

against the company (and practically everything else do with the railroads – he was to become the

most implacable opponent of building the Hoosac tunnel[12]) dated from 1831 and made him a

soul-mate of Mansfield's Elijah Dean, possessed an elephantine memory and enough political clout

to successfully fight the plan.

On the same day that the Norfolk County Railroad was completed, the little 2-mile New England

Railroad opened from Islington to Dedham. The air line‟s thrust in the direction of New York city

received a further boost 1 May 1849 when the Massachusetts legislature granted a charter for the

Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad to lay track from the Norfolk County terminus at Blackstone to

Southbridge, Massachusetts, 33 miles. This latest addition was organized 1 February 1850, but the

road was still not completed by 1853.[13]

Providence was brought into the new railroad game when in 1849 the Hartford, Providence and

Fishkill Railroad was incorporated in Connecticut, uniting the Hartford and Providence with the

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New York and Hartford. This line was to extend 58.5 miles westward from Providence to

Willimantic, Connecticut, but would not open for business for another five years.[14]

* * *

Reluctant to be surpassed by their neighboring big brother, Taunton Branch on 28 May 1849 took

delivery of the sixth locomotive in their corporate history, a 4-4-0 built by the Taunton Locomotive

Manufacturing Company (construction number 31) and christened Whistler in honor of George

Washington Whistler, who had died 9 April in Russia where he was building a railroad for the Czar.

This machine came to Taunton Branch in a somewhat roundabout way. It had been ordered by the

Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont but for unknown reasons was never delivered. It had

60-inch driving wheels and 15 by 18-inch cylinders, and was used on both the Taunton Branch and

the connecting New Bedford road. Like all other Taunton Branch power, its ultimate fate is not

recorded; it had vanished by 1888.[15]

The Taunton Branch motive power roster at the end of 1849 appears to have consisted of five

engines: Taunton, Rocket and Meteor, all from Locks and Canals and probably of the 2-2-0 Planet

model which must have been well suited for the Branch's short, straight, flat trackage, and Alfred

Gibbs and Whistler, both 4-4-0s built by the Taunton works. The somewhat accidental acquisition of

Whistler marked the end of an era; no more engines seem to have been built for the Taunton Branch

until 1861. But it appears that the corporation never suffered from a motive power shortage; through

the 1850s the friendly Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company continued to build their

conservative but trouble-free and easy-running engines on the "Field of Dreams" theory made

famous in a recent baseball movie (paraphrasing: "If we build them, purchasers will come") and

lease them to the Taunton Branch until a buyer showed up,[16] by which time all the moving parts

were worked in and the engine was ready for service.

NOTES

1. Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 710, 711, 713, 715. Note this added proof on 20 Jan. that second class cars were in use on

Boston & Providence.

2. Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 711. Stearns was unable to recall the given name of the brother and left a blank.

3. Usually (discounting the case of the Best Friend's fatally annoyed fireman) steam locomotive boiler explosions

resulted when a malfunctioning water pump, a faulty or misread water glass or try cock, a long steep downgrade that

kept the engine tilted forward so the water ran to the front end of the boiler, an inattentive fireman or all of the above

permitted the boiler water level to drop until it uncovered the crown sheet – the "roof" of the firebox – which then

became red hot. Metal when heated loses its tensile strength, and the overheated crown sheet would then soften and

356

under the pressure of the boiler water belly downward into the firebox; and if no action was taken to halt the process,

would tear loose from its staybolts and rupture. This released the pressure on the water, allowing it to drop suddenly to

atmospheric level and to flash instantaneously into an immense volume of steam far above the pressure that the boiler

shell was built to withstand. In most such cases the boiler went into orbit and the engine crew were killed.

The kind of explosion that killed Cummings usually came without warning to the men on the footplate, with no prior

involvement of the water level or crown sheet and through no fault of the crew. But the results were equally disastrous:

the abrupt drop in pressure as the shell ruptured allowed the boiler water to turn instantly into a high-explosive steam

bomb.

Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 259) notes that boiler explosions were "exceedingly rare" and were "among the most

uncommon of all occurrences in the field of railroad operations." Particularly was this so compared to the number of

steamboat boiler explosions, often accompanied by considerable loss of life. In 1838-'39, 20 steamboats were lost to

explosions on western rivers including the Mississippi (Gerstner op. cit.: 836). I do not know if Cummings' fireman was

injured; I would guess that he was.

As for steam brakes going out of style after the boiler explosion on Canton viaduct, the Mansfield News reported on 1

May 1885 that Taunton Locomotive Works had applied steam brakes to a freight engine, no. 131, just built for Old

Colony Railroad.

4. White 1968-79:184.

5. Lozier 1986: 415-6.

6. Lozier 1986: 421-2.

7. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii; Galvin 1987: 7.

8. Gibb 1943: 100, from Hunt's Merchant's Magazine 1850: 466. Population figures from OFA 1849: 45 and 1853:

34-5.

9. Copeland 1936-56: 62; 29 Dec. 1955. The management of the independent Taunton Branch R. R., stuck with

their unfortunate choice of corporate name, probably continued to be annoyed that they were considered merely a

"branch" of Boston & Providence. The time would come, however, when that did become the case. The same book

extravagantly and inaccurately describes the B&P as being "on a continuous line from Maine to New Orleans."

10. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 14. Dedham Hist. Soc. (undated) states that Norfolk County R. R. was opened in 1848.

This may have been the intended opening date, which evidently was not met.

11. Appleton 1871: 4; C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 17.

12. Harlow (1946: 245-7, 250-1) documents a long list of Bird's actions against Hoosac, which in his fondness for

puns he called the "Great Bore." Bird (1809-1894) published at least seven diatribes in opposition to the tunnel, which

when completed proved such a boon to the eastern Massachusetts railroad business.

13. C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 14-15, 16.

14. C. Fisher 1939: 69-70. Three other sections of this road, from Willimantic through Hartford and Bristol to

Waterbury, Conn., totaling 122.6 miles, opened in 1849, 1850 and 1855.

15. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 71; C. Fisher 1938a: 48; Edson 1981: xvi.

16. White 1968-79: 26. Amtrak's under-utilized Northeast Corridor between New Haven and Boston, over which

operate the world‟s slowest high-speed trains, was expensively electrified on the same hopeful theory.

357

MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD

AND CONNECTING LINES

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Part Four

Harry B. Chase, Jr., 2006

___________________

358

22 – The Mansfield coal-railroad empire that never was

Mansfield, which thanks to its being a significant junction point had become and was to continue for

at least a half century to be the quintessential "railroad town," also once aspired to be, in the best (or

worst) Pennsylvania tradition, a coal mining town. Massachusetts coal mining sounds quite as

fantastic as Massachusetts Jim Crow! Nevertheless, in 1835 three small anthracite coal mines and

several prospect shafts were opened in Mansfield, the most promising of these being in the west part

of town a half mile from the Boston and Providence main line. In fact, McNeill's laborers had struck

a coal bed when excavating the cut spanned by Isaac Lane's private bridge,[1] though no attempt

was made to work the find, and the ties and rails were laid atop it.

All the Mansfield mines had foundered financially a year following the Panic of 1837. But the

coal, though iffy in quality and recoverability, unquestionably was there, several million tons of it in

steeply inclined and tortuously distorted beds beneath the town, and now in 1849, when other men

were rushing to dig for gold in California, a bigger and better Mansfield coal mine was about be

excavated, backed by moneyed New York City men and headed by a stately silk-hatted lawyer

named Benjamin Franklin Sawyer, who optimistically expected to profit from the lessons learned in

the earlier mine failures. Not only that, those in charge had decided that a successful coal mine

required railroad connections.

One Mansfield resident particularly interested in the idea of coal mine trackage was Willard

Manuel. Whether he still held the post of superintendent of the Third Division of the Boston and

Providence, as he did in 1846, I do not know; perhaps he did, because the proposed mine spur fell

within the section then or formerly under his jurisdiction. Manuel is described in Mansfield's town

records as a railroad contractor and civil engineer.[2]

The earliest property deed to mention a proposed spur track to Sawyer's coal mine was signed

(first) by Mansfield (ex-Philadelphian) mine lobbyist and promoter Foster Bryant on 19 September

and (second) by President Martin M. Braley and clerk Jere. M. Hall of Mansfield Coal and Mining

Company on 4 October 1849. Bryant, who having lived in Pennsylvania knew what coal mining was

all about, had leased mining rights on a considerable tract of West Mansfield farm land, and

evidently envisioned being in on the ground floor if and when a coal-railroad empire sprang up

around the mines. Almost a decade earlier, in fact, shortly after the collapse of the previous

Mansfield mining boom, Bryant had consulted with a Boston railroad expert with the resounding

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name of Peter Paul Francis Degrand[3] who foresaw the practicability of 25-car unit-trains dedicated

to hauling coal from Mansfield to The Hub, for the time a very modern idea!

Degrand estimated that Mansfield anthracite could be carried by train for $2.50 a ton with "a

handsome profit to the rail-roads, especially if it was arranged (as it is in many mines and rail-roads

in England) that the coal shoot itself into the cars and out of the carrs [sic] by its own gravity."

Bryant, who had done some advanced thinking of his own (for one thing, he envisioned two

concentric "grand junction" belt railroads around Boston, one close to the wharves, the other, at a

greater radius, joining all the trunk railroads for interchange purposes[4]), felt optimistically that rail

shipments of Mansfield anthracite would amount to 540,000 tons per year. The coal would be used

throughout the New England states as well as New York in foundries and manufacturing plants, for

domestic heating and in locomotives, and by transatlantic steamships and United States warships

based in Boston.

He gives us some speculative figures relating to the transport of Mansfield fuel by railroad:

A locomotive engine, with 25 burden cars, and costing (say) $10,000, with 5 men attached, will

average a daily transport of 75 tons, the distance of 50 miles; and in a year, an aggregate of

23,475 tons.

The freight money on that quantity, at the rate assigned by Mr. Degrand, will be $29,343 75.

But 24 engines and trains will be necessary to deliver 540,000 tons of coal, the assumed yearly

consumption; and consequently the freight will amount to $700,000.

And the cost of an engine and 25 cars of burden may be taken to cost $10,000.

The yearly interest of which is, ......................................................... $ 600 00

Cost of fuel for one year, .................................................................. 3,600 00

Oil and grease, .................................................................................. 525 00

Pay of engineer, ................................................................................. 626 00

" fireman, .................................................................................. 469 50

" 4 assistants, ............................................................................. 1,565 00

Wear and tear of engine and cars, per annum, equal

to 20 per cent. on cost, ................................................................. 2,000 00

_______

$9,385 00

But 24 trains will be required, and therefore the aggregate will be $225,252; taking this sum from

the gross receipts, leaves a clear profit of $474,748, which the rail-roads will yearly receive for their

share of the coal trade.[5]

360

Bryant granted Sawyer's mining company a right-of-way three rods (49-1/2 feet) wide across his

own lands for the purpose of building a single- or double-track railroad

connecting with the Boston & Providence Rail Road at a point between Lanes Bridge so called in said

Mansfield, and the first town road crossing southwardly of said bridge and running thence in straight

or curve lines one or both . . . wherever the same shall be located by Mr Manuel Esq or Mr Raymond

Lee Esq present superintendent of the Boston & Providence Rail Road to the pits or shafts now in

process of construction, with the right to extend such road beyond such pits to any distance on the

lands the right of Mining privileges & other privileges of which as expressed in deeds or lessees are

now held by the said Mansfield Coal & Mining Company and the right of way whereof shall be

granted for the purposes of said Rail Road and not for any other purposes . . . .

The "first town road crossing southwardly of said bridge" was School Street, which until the mid-

1930s crossed the railroad at grade just south of the present highway overpass (former New Haven

Railroad bridge number 26.58, Amtrak mile 202.51).

Bryant, in one breathtaking Faulknerian sentence, reserved

the right & privileges of connecting and entering at his & their cost and charge one or more branch

rail roads with and upon the said Rail Road to be built by said Mansfield Coal & Mining Company

and over such road to be built on the way hereby released to its junction with the Boston &

Providence Rail Road to pass and repass with any number of cars loaded or unloaded as convenience

may require and with horse or steam power and at all times subject to such general regulations for

safety and convenience which from time to time may be made and published by said Mansfield Coal

& Mining Company for the government of their own cars and motive power and of such others as

they may permit to run on their road and it is further stipulated and agreed that no cars loaded or

unloaded or engine belonging to said Mansfield Coal & Mining Company or to said Bryant or any

other person or corporations shall be permitted to remain any length of time say over two hours at any

one time upon that portion of the track which the said Mansfield Coal and Mining company may

build from said Boston and Providence Rail Road as aforesaid to such point as said Bryant & his

associates or representatives shall enter with their switch and connect their road with the said

Mansfield Coal and Mining Company's said road so that no delay be occasioned to any parties in the

use of such portion of the track as is to be used in common or in other roads over which the said

Bryant . . . have a right to pass & repass . . . .

361

The mining company was allowed one year to build their spur track from the Boston and

Providence main line to the Sawyer mine, after which the deed would be void. This agreement was

registered at Taunton 12 October 1849, five days after a brutal hurricane wrecked the brig St. John

off the coast of Cohasset, Massachusetts, with the loss of 99 Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato

Famine. (How badly this storm was felt inland, as at Mansfield, is not recorded).

On 4 October 1849 a West Mansfield farmer named Nathan Hardon for $125 granted the

Mansfield Coal and Mining Company a continuation of the same right-of-way across his land "for

the purpose of building constructing and maintaining a Rail Road, single or double track, wherever

the same shall be located by Mr Manuel Esq or Mr Raymond Lee Esq superintendent of the Boston

& Prov. Rail Road jointly or individually acting," provided the mining company paid for and built

the track and a fence on either side with gates or a barway so Hardon could cross to reach his land on

the other side, and that the track not pass within 150 feet of his house or farm buildings. As with

Bryant's deed, the mining company was to have one year to build the spur.

A third long-winded agreement for yet another section of proposed track was signed on 10

November 1849 by Hosea and Lucy Grover and Charles W., Almond C. and William D. Hardon

for and in consideration of fifty dollars to us paid by the President Directors and Company of the

Mansfield Coal & Mining Co: . . . of the free use of a railroad to be constructed & maintained by the

said Co: & at their cost & connected with the Boston & Providence Rail Road at some point near

Lanes Bridge, so called, in said Mansfield to be used by the grantors in common with said Company

such use to be governed by the rules of the Mansfield Coal & M. Co: as published & not to interrupt

or interfere with their free use of same, their successors and assigns & such others as they may permit

to use said road, we do hereby give grant and release forever to said Company, their successors &

assigns, a right of way for a rail road three rods wide; with either a single or a double track over upon

& across the lands in said Mansfield which were formerly the property of Amasa Hardon, late of said

Mansfield, now deceased, said right of way to be over the part of the lands where the same has lately

been located and bounded by two parallel rows of stakes under the direction of Willard Manuel &

David Hartwell civil engineers, and not over any other part of the lands of the Grantees to be held and

enjoyed by said Company their successors & assigns forever, for all purposes to which rail roads are

applicable and not for any other purpose whatsoever, subject always to the uses and upon the

conditions hereinafter named and not otherwise, viz: that said Company shall build & open said road

for use within one year, that said Company build and forever keep in good repair a good and proper

fence (of which the fence viewers shall always be the final judges) on each side of said road and shall

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construct and maintain one good and proper crossing for wagons & cattle of all kinds, with

convenient gate so that access from one part of the granters [sic] land to the other part shall in no wise

be obstructed or rendered dangerous, that the granters their heirs executors administrators & assigns

shall forever have & enjoy without paying them tolls rents or other charges the right to use said rail

road in common with said Company their successors & assigns & with like cars & motive power and

for like purposes, and from any point of the granters land and over the same to the junction with the

Boston & Providence Rail Road for their purposes and at their own cost and expence to connect one

or more branch roads by proper switches with said road such use to be governed by the rules of the

Mansfield Coal Co [sic]: from time to time published for common safety and that should said

Company their successors and assigns at any time cease to use the said road or right of way herein

granted and thence to the junction with said Boston & Providence Rail Road neither the said Rail

Road nor any part of the structure upon our lands shall be removed but the same shall be left to the

free use of the grantors . . . forever. But in such case said Company shall not be liable to keep the

same in repair or maintain any fences gates or crossings or to be at any cost whatsoever after

abandoning the road and giving notice in writing of such their intention. This instrument is given

upon one other condition namely that fifty dollars per acre shall be paid to the grantors for all the

lands taken for such road.

The Grover and Hardon deed was recorded at Taunton registry 14 November 1849.[6]

This branch, which was to run generally westward from the Boston and Providence, would have

been about 0.8 mile long, and it is interesting to note that it anticipated by roughly 125 years the

Cabot Industrial Park railroad spur (known to CSX dispatchers and switching crews as "The Paper,"

from the Hub Folding Box Company) now in frequent use in West Mansfield!

But this wasn't the end. On 19 August 1850 John Bayley who, besides being a farmer, was to

become Boston and Providence passenger station agent at Tobit's (West Mansfield) in 1855, granted

Mansfield Coal and Mining Company a three-rod-wide right-of-way for a different projected spur

track running from the Sawyer mine's main shaft southward across Bayley's property to a prospect

pit that the mining company had opened on his land on the site of the present White Tail Acres

housing development between Elm Street and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, and thence to the Boston

and Providence main line.

In the event of said Co. finding a workable vein of coal, then they have a right to survey, locate &

build a rail road double or single track across my lands lying on the easterly side of the road leading

from the mines to Tobey's Point [sic] so called, that is the rail road is to start from or near their

363

present pit and run as near as it is possible in a direct line from said pit across Mr. Martin's land,

thence across my field to the hole now dug out in my pasture near the rail road, at that point forming a

sufficient course eastwardly to connect by a switch with main track of the Boston & Prov. Rail Road,

the portion of land which is hereby granted . . . is to be three rods in width & keeping that width

across my lands from said Martin's land, passing on the easterly or northeasterly side of Daniel

Martin Jr's house (dwelling house) and thence straight across my lands to the Boston & Prov. Rail

Road near the large hole now dug in my field adjoining the rail road at that point forming a

convenient course so as to connect with said rail road as aforesaid.

The mining company was to build and maintain at their expense a sufficient fence on either side of

the track at least 3-1/2 feet high, with "a safe and convenient crossing over said rail road in his field"

with a "good gate on both sides." This spur track, which would be 0.7 mile in length, was to be built

within two years, or the deed would be null and void. The company would pay Bayley $150 as

damage and for the use of the land for a right-of-way within 60 days of when the railroad began to

be built. When the company ceased to use and occupy the road, the fences would belong to Bayley.

This deed was recorded at Taunton 12 Sept. 1850.[7]

Like the previous projected spur track, this too was never built. Benjamin Franklin Sawyer and his

Mansfield Coal and Mining Company got off to an ambitious start. They leased 3700 acres (more

than 5-3/4 square miles) of land in and around the town, sank a vertical brick-lined glory hole 10 feet

in diameter and 170 feet deep plus extensive underground workings, and took out 5000 tons of fair

quality anthracite coal along with an equal amount of waste rock. But after having expended

$102,000, Sawyer and his company fell victim to the depression of the mid-1850s. Though they left

expensive pipes, pumps and railcars in the flooded workings in hopes of returning, the mine was

never worked again.[8] As for the unit train and coal-hauling dreams of Peter Paul Francis Degrand,

Foster Bryant and the Boston and Providence Rail Road, the promising Mansfield mining bubble

turned into just that. It is likely that extremely few of the 7000 to 8000 tons of coal mined in the

town between 1835 and 1925 were ever shipped out aboard a railroad freight car.

* * *

The Boston and Providence lost the business of handling Norfolk County trains over its Boston-

Readville tracks on 2 May 1850, when the Midland Railroad Company was chartered with authority

to lay track from a connection with the Norfolk County Railroad at South Dedham and thence

northeastward through Dorchester and South Boston to a terminal on Broad or Sea Street at the foot

of Summer Street, Boston, 12.5 miles. This company was organized 15 June 1850, though the road

was not completed by 1853.[9] The Midland, if it wanted to run Norfolk County Railroad trains into

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Boston, now had to come up with a way to cross the hostile Boston and Providence, which until then

had practically monopolized the high-revenue rail traffic entering the Bay State capital from the

southwest. Midland accomplished this by building an immense earth fill still visible at Readville on

either side of the Providence line, whose track they crossed diagonally on an iron truss bridge. This

enabled them to continue their own road into the city, using what now is the Dorchester freight line

through South Boston.[10]

In June 1850 Boston and Providence added to their own mileage by extending the Dedham

Branch north and east to West Roxbury and Roslindale and back to a point south of Toll Gate now

called Forest Hills to form a 7.5-mile loop with the lower end at Readville.[11] This West Roxbury

loop was expected to stimulate suburban growth which in turn would lead to greater passenger

traffic. Roxbury's population had nearly doubled, from 8310 in 1840 to 13,929 in 1845 and 15,116 in

1850, while Dedham's had grown from 3157 to 4379 in the same decade, and railroad travel had

grown with these increases. As a result, commuting (though it existed in fact if not in name between

Dedham and Boston from the first year of the railroad) as we in the 21st century would recognize it

began over the 4.4-mile distance between Toll Gate and Pleasant Street Station in Boston. For the

next quarter century both through Boston trains and horse-drawn shuttles were operated between

Dedham and Mill Village, now called East Dedham. At about this same time Hyde Park station, a

mile and a quarter north of Readville, was opened. Despite this improved local railroad passenger

service, the Roxbury-Boston highway stagecoach continued to hang on well into the 1850s.[12]

* * *

Meanwhile, master mechanic George S. Griggs, unwilling to be derailed by the rejection of his

steam brake (even for the wrong reason), had been working on a new idea: wooden cushion wheels

for his passenger coaches, not just to provide a smoother ride but to increase the life of the tires.[13]

He also in 1850 produced a new locomotive, the first (and last!) of its practical wheel arrangement

on Boston and Providence and the first with six driving wheels. This engine, called (oddly, because

there were no real highlands on the railroad, though perhaps someone in authority was of Scottish

descent) Highlander, was an 0-6-0 type[14] built in Roxbury shop with low 48-inch drivers and 14-

3/4 by 18 cylinders. The engine evidently gave good service, because it wasn't scrapped until

1877[15] Yet, again oddly, it was never duplicated. To judge by the number and small diameter of

the drive wheels and the absence of a leading truck it would appear to have been designed for heavy

yard switching service, although in England, on superior track, 0-6-0 engines were commonly used

on road trains. But its name also suggests, although we do not know, that Highlander might have

been used to boost lagging freight trains--"banking," the English called it – up over the heights of

365

Sharon hill.

Boston and Providence Rail Road's hand-in-hand brother, the New-York, Providence and Boston,

after some hardscrabble early years, by 1850 had finally pulled up its socks, and its Providence-

Stonington passenger runs connecting with the Manhattan steamboats were making money hand

over fist. Whether it made matters better or worse, from 1851 until the Interstate Commerce

Commission was created in 1887, the state of Rhode Island regulated all railroad lines within its

boundaries by local legislation.[16]

* * *

Probably in the 1850s a major addition was made to the Pleasant Street terminal station of the

Boston and Providence, and the stumpy clock tower of 1834 was replaced by a loftier four-faced

clock tower topped by a weathervane.[17]

By 1850 Boston had three Union Stations that served more than one railroad and four other

terminals used by a single railroad each. What and how many were the lines that spread out from

The Hub and what and where were their depots?

Boston and Providence Rail Road, about 43 miles in main line length, and the Norfolk County

Railroad, 35 miles to Blackstone, jointly used the station on Pleasant Street at the foot of Boston

Common.

Boston and Worcester, 45 miles, shared a station at the corner of Beach and Lincoln Streets with

its logical extension the Western Railroad, 200 miles from Boston to Albany.

Old Colony Railroad, 22 miles to Cohasset, 32 miles to Bridgewater or 37 miles to Plymouth,

and the Fall River Railroad, 54 miles, had a station at South and Kneeland Streets.[18] These were

the three Union Stations.

The "Great Stone Castle" that served the 50-mile Fitchburg Railroad as a depot and was familiar

to Henry Thoreau when occasionally he came from Concord into the city was on the northwest side

of Causeway Street. The station of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, 26 miles, was on Lowell Street.

Boston and Maine, 111 miles to Portland, had a terminal on Haymarket Square. Eastern Railroad,

54 miles to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, used a depot on Commercial Street in East Boston. Any

idea of connecting two or more of these terminals to provide through service, as Providence had

done, was anathema; the railroad corporations and the municipal fathers wanted passengers to come

into the city, not pass through it, a "Chicago" philosophy regretfully inherited by Amtrak, which

along with its riders can only hope that some day a rail connection between New York City and

Portland, Maine, through the city of Boston will be made possible.

Numerous little offshoot railroads connected with these trunk lines leading into Boston: the

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Brookline Branch, the Newton, Saxonville, Milford, Milbury, Harvard, Watertown, the Lexington

and West Cambridge, Lancaster and Sterling, the Dedham, Stoughton, the Dorchester and Milton,

the Medford, Salisbury, the Marblehead Branch. More outlying lines that tied into the Boston route

were: the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad and the Taunton Branch Rail Road, 31 miles together,

and the Stonington, 50 miles. And we have not nearly exhausted the names of railroads operating in

southeastern New England!

Of course the all-important connecting steamship lines must not be forgotten: the Stonington,

Providence and Boston Steamer Line with their "splendid steamers" Vanderbilt and Commodore;

the Providence and Newport Steamer Line, operating Perry; the New York, Newport, Fall River and

Boston Steamer Line and their appropriately-named boats Bay State and Empire State; the Fall

River and Providence, with the steamer Bradford Durfee; the New Bedford and Nantucket,

steamship Massachusetts. And there were still some stagecoach lines that connected many of the

stations along the railroads with less favored towns; although Henry Thoreau, traveling beyond the

terminus of the Cape Cod Railroad in 1849, described the stagecoach as an "almost obsolete

conveyance."[19] Truly, New Englanders in mid-19th century must have felt especially blessed in

the richness and density of their transport facilities.

At the close of 1850 the total length of all railroads operating in Massachusetts was 1037 miles,

with 421 more miles in adjoining states owned and operated by the Massachusetts corporations.

Almost every town in the state having a population of 2000 or more enjoyed rail service. The 1840s

had proven a wild ride. In the beginning of that decade, railroads had been considered public

benefits but doubtful paying investments. But the Boston and Providence payoff rose from 6 to 8

percent and most of the other New England roads did as well or better, with the result that no

obligations so commanded money as the railroads', and with some new rail enterprises more stock

was subscribed than had been asked for. By 1850, however, the seesaw was beginning to teeter the

other way, accumulated capital was unable to supply the frequent calls for payment on railroad

shares, and railway obligations began to be sold at steadily increasing rates of discount.[20]

The Providence and Bristol Railroad Company was chartered in Rhode Island 1 November 1850

and incorporated by the General Assembly with a capital of $300,000 [21], with authority to build a

road from Providence to the Massachusetts state line near the west shore of Seekonk River and also

from the northerly township line of Barrington to Warren and Bristol, these three towns being in

Rhode Island. On 23 May 1851 the Massachusetts legislature granted a complementary charter to

the Providence and Bristol Railroad Company in the Bay State, authorizing it to lay track from the

Rhode Island state line across the Seekonk River from India Point, Providence, through the town of

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Seekonk. The Bay State road was incorporated with a capital of $5 million, which two years later

was reduced to $750,000. Construction, however, did not begin until 1852.[22] These roads, when

combined, in time would come under the control of their larger neighbor the Boston and

Providence.

* * *

Henry Thoreau on 23 December 1850 reports "an old-fashioned snow-storm. There is not much

passing on railroads. The engineer says it is three feet deep above." This was at Concord; whether

the same storm buried southeastern New England to an equal degree I do not know. Ten days later,

speaking of the Fitchburg and the Nashua and Worcester Railroads, he notes, "The direction in

which a railroad runs, though intersecting another at right angles, may cause that one will be

blocked up with snow and the other be comparatively open even for great distances, depending on

the direction of prevailing winds and valleys."[23]

* * *

The February 1851 passenger train schedule of the Boston and Providence Railroad [sic]

(President Charles H. Warren, Superintendent William Raymond Lee) as published in the American

Railway Guide for the United States reads as follows:

BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE

Miles Fares Stations 1st Tr'n 2d Tr'n 3d Tr'n

AM PM PM

--- --- BOSTON 8 00 3 30 5 00

2 --- ROXBURY 8 05 3 35 -----

3 --- JAMAICA PLAINS 8 10 3 40 -----

8 20 READVILLE 8 22 3 52 -----

14 40 CANTON 8 35 4 05 -----

17 50 SHARON 8 45 4 15 -----

21 65 FOXBORO 8 53 4 23 -----

24 70 MANSFIELD 9 05 5 35 5 42

26 80 TOBEYS 9 10 4 40 -----

31 95 ATTLEBORO 9 20 4 50 -----

32 95 DODGEVILLE 9 23 4 53 -----

39 1 15 PAWTUCKET 9 35 5 05 -----

43 1 25 PROVIDENCE 9 45 5 15 6 15

368

PROVIDENCE TO BOSTON

Miles Fares Stations 1st Tr'n 2d Tr'n 3d Tr'n

AM AM PM

--- --- PROVIDENCE ----- 8 15 3 45

4 10 PAWTUCKET ----- 8 25 3 55

11 30 DODGEVILLE ----- 8 38 4 08

12 30 ATTLEBORO' ----- 8 43 4 13

17 45 TOBEYS ----- 8 53 4 23

19 50 MANSFIELD ----- 9 00 4 30

22 60 FOXBORO ----- 9 08 4 38

26 75 SHARON ----- 9 18 4 48

29 85 CANTON ----- 9 27 4 57

35 1 00 READVILLE ----- 9 37 5 07

40 1 15 JAMAICA PLAINS ----- 9 50 5 20

41 1 25 ROXBURY ----- 9 55 5 25

43 1 25 BOSTON ----- 10 00 5 30

Trn 1 [from Providence] leaves on ar. Steamboat Tn fm N. Y. via Ston'n R. R.

Connects at [Providence] with Stonington R. R. . . . Also Providence & Worcester R. R. . . .

New Bedford & Taunton and Taunton Branch R. R. diverges at [Mansfield] . . . .

Stoughton Branch R. R. diverges at [Canton] . . . .

Dedham Branch R. R. diverges at [Jamaica Plains] . . . .[24]

The times given are leaving times except for the final station in each direction, for which the

arrival time is listed. Tobit's (West Mansfield) continues to be misspelled "Tobeys." The third

Boston-Providence train was the “Steamboat Train” making only one intermediate stop, at Mansfield, probably because its engine had to take water, but also to allow passengers who wished

to go to Taunton, New Bedford or Fall River to detrain.

As the railroads operating out of Boston entered the 1850s they were learning the value of short-

distance travel and started providing even further for its accommodation. More and more people

were traveling daily at regular times between their homes in the outlying towns and their businesses

or places of employment in Boston. As a result, on the Dedham and Stoughton branches we learn of

not only "extra" (commuter) trains but, in February 1851, of reduced-price commuter tickets in the

369

modern style.[25]

Dedham Branch trains left Dedham for Boston and intermediate stations at 8:00, 9:00, 9:50 and

11:00 a. m. and 2:00, 4:15, 6:30 and 7:00 p. m. Trains left Boston for Dedham and intermediate

stations at 7:00 and 9:05 a. m. and 12:30, 2:20, 3:00, 4:30, 5:45 and 10:30 p. m. The distance was 9-

1/2 miles, the fare 25 cents. Commutation tickets for three months cost $12, for six months $22, one

year $40; way stations in proportion.

Stoughton Branch trains left Stoughton for Boston and intermediate stations at 8:10 a. m. and

2:30 p. m. Trains left Boston for Stoughton and intermediate stations at 12 noon and 4:15 p. m.

Distance 18 miles (from Boston), fare 50 cents. Commutation tickets for three months cost $20, six

months $35 and one year $50; way stations in proportion.[26]

Later in 1851, some time after February because a fourth daily train each way had been added to

the timetable since that month, the published schedule of passenger trains on the Boston and

Providence Railroad was as follows:

BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE

Miles Fares Stations 1st Tr'n 2nd Tr'n 3rd Tr'n 4th Tr'n

AM AM PM PM

--- --- BOSTON 7 45 11 00 3 30 5 00

2 --- ROXBURY 7 50 11 05 3 35 -----

3 --- JAMAICA PLAINS 7 53 11 10 3 40 -----

8 20 READVILLE 8 07 11 22 3 52 -----

14 40 CANTON 8 18 11 33 4 03 -----

17 50 SHARON 8 28 11 43 4 13 -----

21 65 FOXBORO 8 38 11 53 4 23 -----

24 70 MANSFIELD 8 50 12 05 4 35 5 42

26 80 TOBEYS 8 55 12 10 4 40 -----

31 95 ATTLEBORO 9 05 12 20 4 50 -----

32 95 DODGEVILLE 9 08 12 23 4 53 -----

39 1 15 PAWTUCKET 9 20 12 35 5 05 -----

43 1 25 PROVIDENCE 9 30 12 45 5 15 6 15

370

PROVIDENCE TO BOSTON

Miles Fares Stations 1st Tr'n 2nd Tr'n 3rd Tr'n 4th Tr'n

AM AM PM PM

--- --- PROVIDENCE ----- 8 00 11 00 3 40

4 10 PAWTUCKET ----- 8 10 11 10 3 50

11 30 DODGEVILLE ----- 8 23 11 23 4 03

12 30 ATTLEBORO ----- 8 28 11 28 4 08

17 45 TOBEYS ----- 8 38 11 38 4 18

19 50 MANSFIELD ----- 8 45 11 45 4 25

22 60 FOXBORO ----- 8 53 11 53 4 33

26 75 SHARON ----- 9 03 12 03 4 43

29 85 CANTON ----- 9 13 12 13 4 53

35 1 00 READVILLE ----- 9 23 12 23 5 03

40 1 15 JAMAICA PLAINS ----- 9 35 12 35 5 15

41 1 25 ROXBURY ----- 9 40 12 40 5 20

43 1 25 BOSTON ----- 9 45 12 45 5 25

Trn 1 [from Providence] leaves on ar. Steamboat Tn fm N. Y. via Ston'n R. R.

Connects at [Providence] with Stonington R. R. . . . Also, Providence & Worcester R. R. . . .

New Bedford & Taunton and Taunton Branch R. R. diverges at [Mansfield] . . . .

Stoughton Branch R. R. diverges at [Canton] . . . .

Dedham Branch R. R. diverges at [Jamaica Plains] . . . .[27]

Here, the fourth Boston-Providence run was the “Steamboat Train,” connecting with a limited train leaving Providence at 6:50 p. m. and arriving at Stonington at 8:35. The Stonington,

Providence and Boston Steamer Lines boats C. Vanderbilt and Commodore were scheduled to leave

Stonington for New York at 8:30 p. m. "or on arrival of 5 PM. train from Boston." The eastbound

steamers from New York to Stonington left New York from Pier No. 2, North River, at 4:30 p. m.

the preceding day.[28] It is interesting that train fare from Boston to Providence or vice versa still

came to as much as or more than the average workman's daily wage; train travel still was not cheap.

My memory may be faulty, but I seem to recall that a one-way coach ticket from Mansfield to

Boston around 1940 cost about 45 cents!

371

If it is assumed that a station stop took no longer than one minute (although two minutes seems

more likely and later became standard) the fastest trains other than the “Steamboat Train” made the 43-mile run from Boston to Providence or reverse in 84 minutes running time, excluding the 11

intermediate stops en route, for an average speed of 30.7 miles per hour, reaching surprising

maximum average speeds of 43 miles per hour between Jamaica Plains and Readville, where they

were scheduled to run five miles in seven minutes.

The fourth daily train out of Boston – the “Steamboat Train” – pulled out of that city at 5:00 p. m.

(no halts at Back Bay and Route 128 in those days!), left Mansfield, 24 miles away, at 5:42 and

arrived at Providence at 6:15 p. m., making no other stops on route. Allowing five minutes at

Mansfield for topping off the tender tank with water pumped by windmill from nearby Rumford

River while passengers to and from Taunton, New Bedford or Fall River got on or off, this train

made the first 24 miles in 37 minutes or 39 miles per hour and the second lap of 19 miles in 33

minutes or 34.5 miles per hour; 70 minutes running time at an average rate of 37 miles per hour.

Obviously, the 20-mile-per-hour restriction imposed for safety's sake on passenger trains only a few

years before had been lifted.

The northbound boat train because of the uncertain steamer connections at the start of its 93-mile

run in Stonington still remained unscheduled, but the very real danger of its plowing into an

opposing train whose crew did not know of its whereabouts had been diminished by running it, if

possible, at an early hour when no other trains were on the road. This meant that as soon as daylight

dawned the “Steamboat Train” could barrel along as fast as its engineer chose or dared. But if it ran more than two or three hours late, which was likely to be the case if the steamer from New York

was delayed, then the engineman had to throttle down, sounding his bell and approaching each

curve at restricted speed, braking to a halt at the nearest convenient siding if his timecard showed he

was about to intrude on the schedule of a southward train. (One wonders if the trusting passengers

aboard the “Steamboat Train” had an inkling of the danger that constantly hung over their heads.)

On the Dedham Branch Railroad, trains now left Dedham for Boston and intermediate stations at

7:05, 8:00, 9:15, 9:40 and 11:00 a. m. and 2:15, 4:10, 5:40, 6:30 and 7:00 p. m. Trains departed

Boston for Dedham and intermediate stations at 6:30, 8:10 and 10:00 a. m. and 12:30, 2:30, 3:10,

4:30, 5:45, 7:05 and 10:30 p. m. Distance 9-1/4 miles, fare 25 cents. Commutation tickets: three

months $12, six months $22, one year $40. At Dedham each train connected with a train from Mill

Village (East Dedham).

372

On the Stoughton Branch Railroad trains left Stoughton for Boston and intermediate stations at

8:00 a. m. and 2:30 p. m.; trains left Boston for Stoughton and intermediate stations at 12 noon and

4:10 p. m.. Distance 18 miles, fare 50 cents. Commutation tickets: three months $35, one year $50.

A close study of the schedules reveals the surprising density of traffic on the Boston end of the

line. Every day between the variable arrival of the “Steamboat Train” (say 6 a. m., for an average) and the departure of the last Dedham commuter run at 10:30 p. m., six Providence trains, the two

boat trains, four Canton-Stoughton locals and 19 Dedham locals – a total of 31 trains every 24

hours – polished the 3.3-mile stretch of iron between Pleasant Street Station and Jamaica Plains.

And these were only the passenger trains; to this busy traffic must be added the daily through

freights and the way freight and switching moves near Boston. This density would have been

impossible to handle were it not for the double track between Boston and Readville. Even so, the

switch-tenders at Jamaica Plains must have been kept on the jump routing traffic back and forth

between the Dedham Branch and the Providence main line.

Providence Union Station daily handled six trains to and from Stonington, eight Boston trains

and six Worcester trains, a total of 20 passenger trains. For a small town, Mansfield was active, too;

not only did this junction see eight Taunton Branch runs, but eight main line trips daily, again not

including freights. Six opposing trains met either at Mansfield or on the useful double track

between there and Sharon. And all, apparently, stopped there to refill their tender tanks.

Of course these schedules were not engraved in stone. Isaac Stearns only two years later writes of

taking trains that are not listed on the 1851 timetable.

Officers of the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad and Taunton Branch Railroad in 1851 were

Joseph Grinnell (newly resigned from the United States house of representatives), president of the

New Bedford road, at New Bedford; William Allen Crocker, president of Taunton Branch, at

373

Taunton, and A. E. Swasey, superintendent (apparently of both, which suggests that the two roads

for all practical purposes were operating as one), at Taunton. Crocker also served as the first

president of Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company.[29]

Passenger train schedules between Mansfield and New Bedford in 1851 were as follows:

MANSFIELD TO NEW BEDFORD

Miles Fares Stations 1st Trn 2nd Trn 3rd Trn 4th Trn

AM AM PM PM

--- --- MANSFIELD ----- 8 50 12 05 4 45

4 15 NORTON ----- 9 00 12 15 4 56

7 20 CRANE'S ----- 9 07 12 21 5 05

11 30 TAUNTON 6 45 9 15 12 30 5 15

17 55 MYRICK'S 7 13 9 25 12 42 5 25

31 90 NEW BEDFORD 8 00 9 55 1 10 5 55

NEW BEDFORD TO MANSFIELD

Miles Fares Stations 1st Trn 2nd Trn 3rd Trn 4th Trn

AM AM PM PM

--- --- NEW BEDFORD 7 15 10 25 3 00 4 15

14 50 MYRICK'S 7 45 10 55 3 30 4 45

20 75 TAUNTON 8 05 11 15 3 50 5 05

24 80 CRANE'S 8 13 11 25 3 59 -----

27 80 NORTON 8 18 11 28 4 05 -----

31 90 MANSFIELD 8 40 11 40 4 25 -----

Connects at [Mansfield] with the Boston & Providence R. R. . . .

Intersects the Fall River R. R. at [Myricks] . . . .

A Train leaves Mansfield on arrival of Steamboat Train from New York via Stonington, for

Taunton and New Bedford.

374

The Fall River Railroad ran from Boston to Fall River by way of Bridgewater. The train that left

Mansfield on arrival of the northbound “Steamboat Train”is not listed in the schedule, nor is its presumed opposite number connecting with the boat train at Mansfield. Counting these two,

Taunton saw ten trains stopping each day. For unknown reasons, the southbound runs from

Mansfield to New Bedford took one hour and five minutes for the 31 miles, an average speed of

28.6 miles per hour; but the northward trips took 15 to 25 minutes more than an hour, the slowest

(the third train) averaging a leisurely 21.9 miles per hour.[30]

* * *

The Roxbury shop of Boston and Providence turned out two new locomotives in 1851, named

Roxbury and (second) Dedham in honor of the railroad's new commuter loop, and placed them in

service on that line. Once again George Griggs came up with a design he hoped would suit their

intended use: these were 2-2-2 tank types, the first and last of that wheel arrangement on the

railroad. Like the master mechanics of a number of roads, Griggs believed that short commuter

trains such as operated on the West Roxbury-Dedham loop were most economically handled by

lightweight single-driving-axle tank engines, that is, engines having one pair of drivers and no

separate tenders, the water tank being carried either astride the boiler (a "saddle tank") or on either

side of the engine {"panniers") with the fuel bin fixed to the rear of the cab, like a bustle.

Though popular in England (Robert Stephenson had built at least one in 1833[31]) and later in

France, where their drive wheels reached enormous diameters, the fault of these "singles" was weak

tractive power and poor adhesion due to insufficient weight on the drivers, especially as the water in

the tanks was gradually emptied and the engine weight decreased in proportion. In an attempt to

correct this problem, Griggs on 17 June 1851 took out a patent (number 8166) for a traction-

increasing device that would throw a part of the weight of the cars onto the driving axle through the

drawbar and a series of levers.[32]

These two latest engines had 54-inch drive wheels and cylinders 9 by 16 inches. Second Dedham

was sold in 1856 to the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad, which named it Uncle Tom after Louisa

May Alcott‟s popular novel of the time. Roxbury was sold by 1858 to the Rome, Watertown and

Ogdensburg Railroad in New York State. Thus neither survived long enough in Boston and

Providence service to receive numbers or, apparently, even to be photographed; and the fact that the

design was not repeated leads one to suppose they were unsuccessful.[33]

375

This left the Boston and Providence with 18 locomotives at the end of 1851: Boston, New York,

King Philip, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol, second Massachusetts, probably Blackstone, Taghonic,

Narragansett, Iron Horse or Hyde Park, Rhode Island, second Providence, second Canton, second

Neponset, Highlander, Roxbury and second Dedham.

In 1852 Boston and Providence acquired no new locomotives. This did not mean that master

mechanic Griggs no longer had his hands full, because during that year his 14 engines equipped

with inside connections suffered 11 broken cranks.[34] On the positive side, he began using the

more advanced Stephenson link form of valve motion and reverse gear in preference to the old V-

hook style, which had more working parts, was more difficult to keep in repair and sometimes

malfunctioned by failing to engage as it should, to the annoyance of the engineman.[35]

NOTES

1. It astonishes many persons to learn that in the 19th and 20th centuries approximately 67 anthracite coal mines

and prospects were worked in Mass. and R. I., producing 1.74 million tons of coal. (Though hardly a shovel full by

present Powder River Basin standards, this was enough, if piled in one place, to cover 104 modern football fields – 115

acres – to a depth of 10 feet.) In the early 20th century and again during World War II the New Haven R. R.

experimented unsuccessfully with burning coal from mines in Portsmouth and Cranston, R. I., in their steam

locomotives (Chase 1986: 123-4, 1987: 31-2). In Mansfield, despite the expenditure of about one half million dollars

over the period 1835-1925, not enough coal was recovered to fill one modern unit train. The Lane's bridge coal bed was

rediscovered by a mining geologist in 1925 and I mapped an eastward extension of it in 1978. One thing in the coal's

favor is that it has the lowest sulfur content (1% or less) of any coal in the Western Hemisphere.

376

2. Willard Manuel was born c1813 in North Troy, Orleans Cty, in northern Vermont adjacent to the Quebec border,

the fourth of six children of David Manuel and Susan Corser. The family seems to have had some uncertain Canadian

connections. He married by 1839 Louisa Jewett; died in Chelsea, Mass., 24 Nov. 1872. He and Louisa had two short-

lived daughters, Charlotte, born in 1839 and died at the age of 11 weeks, and Josephine L., born 2 Nov. 1843, died at

one year and nine months, and a son, Orin Willard, born 11 Aug. 1845 (Vital records of Mansfield 1933: 44, 206).

Willard Manuel speculated in land near North Troy and Jay, Vt. On 16 Oct. 1846 and 5 Sep. 1849 he bought two

houselots (land) in the Branchville section of Mansfield from Nathaniel Dorr and Thomas Otis; in the deeds he is

described as “Gentleman” (Bristol Cty N. Dist. Reg. Of Deeds). His son Orin served during and after the Civil War from 23 July 1863 to Mar. 1866 as orderly aboard the screw frigate Franklin, launched in 1864 and in active navy

service until 1877, though it was used as a receiving ship until 1915. Orin in 1890 was living in Hyde Park, Mass. (J. W.

Manuel pers. comm. 2005)

3. Degrand in January 1840 had been one of three men sent by Western R. R. to Albany to jump-start the lagging

Albany & West Stockbridge R. R., which was to connect at the state line with Western (Harlow 1946: 126). On 3 Dec.

1840 Degrand delivered an address in Boston entitled “To the people of Massachusetts and to the friends of rail-roads

throughout the union” in which he described the advantages of low passenger fares and low freight rates as practically illustrated by the deep researches of the British, French and Belgian governments. His audience consisted of gentlemen

friendly to internal improvements, who unanimously approved and adopted the address and ordered it to be published

(A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2004).

4. The circumferential railroads were never built. Instead, Boston today sits at the center of two circumferential

highways, Interstate Routes 128 and 495, both of which bridge the Boston & Providence.

5. Degrand to Bryant, letter 23 Jan. 1841 in Bryant Feb. 1842: 69-70, 73-4. Bryant has the confusing habit of

omitting the decimal point in his dollar-and-cent figures. Note that oil and grease cost more than the fireman! In that

era, before mineral petroleum was in production, animal and vegetable oils, sometimes imported, were used to lubricate

locomotive valves and cylinders. The low flash and burning points of these early oils was offset by the relatively low

steam pressures then in use.

6. Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds Book 193, p. 412-6; v. 195, p. 10-13.

7. Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds Book 198, p. 342-3.

8. The water-filled open main shaft is situated on the 3-acre parcel 46, Mansfield assessors' map 10.

9. C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 17. The site at the foot of Summer St. is where South Station was

built later.

10. De Lue 1925: 236; RRE 1952: 1-2; Bixby 1992: 7. Bixby dates the Readville project as 1853.

11. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 17.

12. Amer. Ry. Guide 1851: 99; C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 21; NHRAA 1940-52; Beebe and Clegg 1952: 36

(illustration); Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29, 31; 1986: 11; Lee 1987: 7. "Toll Gate" was situated at or near the present

Toll Gate footbridge 0.42 mile south of Forest Hills station near Amtrak milepost 223.52. Population figures from OFA

1849: 45 and 1853: 34-5.

13. White 1968-79: 178.

14. Though new to the Boston & Providence, the first 0-6-0 type built in the U. S. dated from 1837. Baltimore &

Ohio would have had an 0-6-0 in 1829, ordered apparently through Whistler and McNeill on their English junket for

that pioneer railroad, if it had not been lost at sea on its way over (White 1968-79: 66).

377

15. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

16. FWP-RI 1937: 90; Swanberg 1988: 34.

17. Barrett 1996: 90; see p. 91 and 92 for photos of this new arrangement.

18. Eaton's 1850 map of Old Colony..

19. Amer. Ry. Guide 1851; Thoreau, in Cape Cod, 1961: 21.

20. Appleton 1871: 4.

21. Bayles (1891) gives the date of incorporation as Oct. 1850.

22. Bayles 1891; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 17-18.

23. Journal , v. 2, p. 128, 23 Dec. 1850; v. 2, p. 136-7, 2 Jan. 1851. Spring of 1851 was no major improvement, as

mid-April brought the "great gale" that wiped out the iron lighthouse off Cohasset and its two keepers and must have

made dangerous and difficult voyaging for the railroad's ocean-going connections, if they were allowed out of harbor at

all. The new Minot‟s lighthouse, which still stands, was built of Quincy granite. 24. Barrett 1996: 211.

25. Appleton 1871: 4. Humphrey and (Clark 1985: 31) give 1855 as the date of the first Boston & Providence

commuter service. The first special commuter fares on a U. S. railroad were put into effect by Boston & Worcester in

1838.

26. Barrett 1996: 211.

27. Amer. Ry. Guide 1851: 99.

28. Compare the Stonington-Boston schedule with a much earlier trip between these two points. In June 1669, horse

dealer Thomas Minor of Stonington left for Boston on a Monday, sold his horses there, and got home to Stonington five

days later. People were amazed at the speed of Minor‟s round trip. 29. Lozier 1986: 408, 485.

30. Amer. Ry. Guide 1851: 99, 101.

31. White 1968-79: 184.

32. White 1968-79: 235.

33. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; White 1968-79: 233; Edson 1981: xvii.

34. Amer. R. R. Journal 29 Oct. 1853: 700, quoted by White 1968-79: 208. Assuming that the Bury and Forester

engines and all of Griggs's own engines were inside-connected, it would appear from my listing that in 1852 there were

as many as 18 inside-connected engines in service. If 14 is the correct number of inside engines, it is impossible to

know which four were no longer on the active roster. However, Bury engines such as Boston were reported to be less

subject to crank breakage because of their low power.

35. C. Fisher 1938b: 80; Lozier 1986: 421.

378

23 – The unlucky locomotive G. S. Griggs

In about 1850 Mansfield became the focal point of a new kind of express freight business for the

Boston and Providence. Nelson Paine's second son Henry N., who in his earliest working days

helped his cobbler father make shoes, took a new job as an expressman bringing cases of straw

bonnets and hats over the road from shops in Foxborough Center to Mansfield. Other boxes of hats

came down the highways from Medfield, Massachusetts. At Mansfield, these headgear, two-thirds

bonnets and one-third hats, up to 20,000 a week, were packed aboard the “Steamboat Train” for Providence and thence to the boats for the fashionable ladies of New York.[1] This was seasonal

work lasting nine or ten months out of the year, closing down annually for two or three months after

the spring trade ended.

In 1851, however, before he was 20, Henry Paine turned the express business over to someone

else and hired out as a Boston and Providence locomotive fireman, not long afterward being "set

up" as engineer, a job at which he worked for 37 years.[2]

City newspapers too were delivered at the stations along the line. This daily delivery made a big

difference in the lives of small town residents, because with the steadily increasing speed and

frequency of trains, plus the net of telegraph wires spreading across the country, people were kept

nearly as up-to-date and well informed on regional and national goings-on as we are today – but

without the immediacy and sometimes sensationalism of TV pictures, though the reporting in some

papers could be sensational enough. Isaac Stearns, who was then the local agent for several news

journals, stayed at home on the rainy day of 27 May 1852 but wrote his sister, ". . . I am at

Mansfield Railroad Depot every morning at 8 o'clock to receive my papers."[3]

The Mansfield historian describes how things looked around the Mansfield station in the early

1850s, before Chilson's imposing iron foundry was erected diagonally across the track. Where

Card's shop (now Millhouse Apartments on Rumford Avenue) was built later, Samuel Schenk's

machine shop stood, while Schenk's store occupied a spot just east of the Taunton Branch track on

the site of the later Mansfield House. South of and behind the store was the Branch engine and car

house. The west side of the Boston and Providence, across from the depot, was mostly woodland

and marsh through which ran the creek dignified by the name of Rumford River. To the north, on

what became known as West Pratt Street, stood the Terry, Shurtliffe and Company foundry.[4]

379

In the 1850s and '60s, east of the Boston and Providence roundhouse where a larger turntable was

built later, grew a lovely little oak woods known as Clark's Grove, popular for picnics. This sylvan

spot was named for burly blacksmith Simeon "Sim" Clark,[5] who owned a smithy on the west side

of the tracks opposite the later location of Shields' foundry. Clark had obtained the contract for

repairing wheels, general railroad blacksmithing and (his main business) mending rails for a section

of the Boston and Providence. The light iron rails of the 1850s frequently became split, broken or

"frayed." These damaged rails were uprooted by the section gang and brought to Clark's shop. If

they came from any distance they were hauled to the smithy aboard a flat car towed by a

locomotive, but nearby rails were carried on a small track car to which section boss James Bellew

hitched an old white horse (perhaps – who knows? – a descendant of Charlie of Canton viaduct

fame!). White horse and flat car were housed in a shed west of the track close to North Main Street,

otherwise known as Bellew's crossing.

One of the men in Jim Bellew's gang was Martin Shea, who later became boss in his place. Shea

had a black horse named Doctor that he drove along the track at near-railroad speed. When the car

was empty, Shea, in those good old days when no one cared about insurance claims, often invited

schoolboys to ride. One of these lucky lads was Frank Bailey, who was allowed to hold the reins.

Working for Clark in his shop were John Conner, the striker, William Foley and James Daley. Clark

was a big man, weighing well over 200 pounds; the helpers were small and were nicknamed "the

three imps." Sim Clark was a genial and imaginative soul who annually organized the Horribles

Parades at Fourth of July celebrations in Mansfield.[6]

* * *

Another link in the proposed Boston-New York air line chain was chartered 30 April 1852. This

was the Boston and New York Central Railroad Company,[7] organized by "promoters with large

aims" who picked up the baton dropped by the Norfolk County Railroad in its earlier fumbling

efforts to reach from Boston toward New Haven and thence Manhattan. Their intent was to build a

line to Willimantic and there connect with the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill, thus becoming

part of a through route from Boston via the Erie Railroad to the Middle West.[8] On 12 December

1853 the Boston and New York Central was assembled from a logical end-to-end consolidation of

the Midland, the Norfolk County and the Southbridge and Blackstone railroads.[9]

Yet another minuscule linklet came into being 25 June 1853 with the charter in Connecticut of

the East Thompson Railroad Company, replacing a different and somewhat ephemeral company of

the same name whose charter had expired the previous year. The new company was organized two

days later. They were authorized to lay rails from East Thompson, in the northeast corner of

380

Connecticut, for a distance of two miles to the Massachusetts state line, using substantially the route

over which the Southbridge and Blackstone had been authorized to build in 1849.

Through train service between Boston and New York via the Connecticut shore line came one

small step closer when on 29 June 1852 the New London and Stonington Railroad Company was

chartered in Connecticut with authority to build a railroad from the New-York, Providence and

Boston railhead at Stonington to Groton, on the east side of the Thames River and from there to

operate a ferry service to New London. And on 22 July 1852 the New Haven and New London

Railroad, chartered four years before, opened for business between those towns.[10]

During the summer of 1852 the long-time rivalry between the New York steamship lines

operating out of the competing ports of Providence and Stonington reached such a height of

intensity that fares from Providence to Manhattan were cut from two dollars to one dollar.[11]

The Long Island Sound steamboats must have been a pleasant means of travel in summer of

1852. The month of July was unusually torrid, reminiscent of the oppressive summer of 1849.

Thoreau, in Concord, wrote of "furnace-like" heat so great that "the railroad men cannot work in the

Deep Cut, but have come out onto the causeway, where there is a circulation of air. They tell with a

shudder of the heat reflected from the rails."[12]

On 25 June 1852 construction began on the Providence and Bristol Railroad Company (of Rhode

Island only) and its name was changed to the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad Company (of

Rhode Island).[13] The birth of this road had followed a "great deal of agitation and struggle"

reaching back to the 1840s. At that time the citizens of Warren got upset at reports that a railroad

tunnel was to be dug beneath their main street, rendering it impassable during the work, and in 1849

had begun agitating for a horse-drawn omnibus line, hoping in that way to save their street and

bring the railroad to terms. A compromise between the two parties was reached, sparing the

destruction of Warren's main drag, and construction eventually got started.[14]

It was to be 24 March 1853 before the Providence and Bristol Railroad Company (of Massa-

chusetts) emulated its across-the-line brother road by changing its name to the Providence, Warren

and Bristol, and on 9 July it was organized under that style.[15] Though the Rhode Island and the

Massachusetts corporations continued for a while as separate entities (once again the state line

getting in the way as much as if it were a national boundary) they united into simply the

Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad Company on 16 November 1854.[16]

381

* * *

Turning our attention back to Mansfield, on 20 November 1852 Rufus Skinner by warrantee deed

transferred to the Boston and Providence two parcels of land lying west of the track at West

Mansfield.[17]

In 1853 Isaac Stearns, who in addition to his many other activities was boarding in Boston while

serving as Mansfield's only elected state representative (a very early Republican – formerly he

would have been called a Whig) in the Massachusetts General Court, where he made many

speeches. He recorded in his diary and journal several short trips on trains of the Boston and

Providence. His first entry is significant in that it proves that some Boston-bound "cars" at

Mansfield came from Providence and others from Taunton and even New Bedford:

Came to Boston in the Providence cars. (Wednesday, 9 March.)

Went home by railroad to East Foxboro. (Saturday, 26 March.)

This morning took the New Bedford and Taunton trains for Boston. Arrived there about ½ past 9.

(Monday, 28 March.)

Came in the cars to East Foxboro. (Saturday, 2 April.)

Took the 4 o'clock Providence train and went home – just 40 minutes in getting to the [East]

Foxboro Depot, where I got out and went home on foot. (Saturday, 9 April, indicating an average

train speed of 32.2 miles per hour for the 21.5-mile distance.)

And, headed "Boston Boarding House," on 11 May, writing about the previous summery

afternoon:

. . . put up several papers to send out on the night train . . . . Just as I got into the street from the

common that I had to cross, a man came up behind, unperceived by me, and patted me on the

shoulder and said I was his prisoner! I looked around and found a large man who took hold of me

and laughed. I found it was Mr. Willard Manuel. We had a social talk for five minutes. He said he

was in favor of my going ahead in favor of the Hoosac Tunnel. I told him I calculated to do so, as I

was satisfied that it ought to be done. I had sent him several books on the subject which had

convinced him that the tunnel ought to be made.

. . . I did up several papers to send out . . . . I got to the [Boston] Depot just as the cars were

starting – they were on the move. I ran to the head of the train. A man saw me coming, whom I

knew. He asked me if I had anything to send out, and I handed it to him over the pickets. He took it

and had bare[ly] time to get into the cars. This was 1/2 past 4.[18]

382

In 1853 or 1854 the wealthy Gardner Chilson (1805-1877), drawn by the convenience of the

three-way railroad junction at Mansfield, moved his successful furnace and stove manufacturing

company there from Boston. Chilson, born a poor boy in Thompson, Connecticut, at first served as

an apprentice in pattern- and cabinet-making, then worked as a carver for a stove dealer in

Providence. Before long he developed an aptitude for building better stoves, which gradually were

replacing home fireplaces throughout New England, and in 1837 moved to Boston where he opened

his own stove store.

A year later, he began selling furnaces for home heating, though these were still considered a

luxury for the rich, and in 1844 "he invented and patented an air-warming and ventilating furnace

that was better than anything thus far produced." This he exhibited at all the principal fairs in the

United States, at which he was awarded a gold medal and three silver medals, and in 1851 he

received a Prize Medal for his furnace at the London World's Fair, correctly known as The Great

Exhibition – it was convened in a splendid glass building that covered nearly 18 acres. In 1853, the

year Chilson came to Mansfield, he perfected a cone furnace that operated on the radiation

principle.

After purchasing 11 acres of land west of the Boston and Providence near the Mansfield

passenger house plus the square in front of the station, as soon as he arrived in town he began

construction of a large factory, the first stone building in Mansfield, on the west side of the tracks

diagonally northwest of the depot and on the south side of what became called Foundry Street, later

West Pratt Street. Until now, no one in Mansfield had had the money to build anything but wooden

shops. Chilson's foundry took many months to complete. Until it was ready, he rented the small

nearby factory of Terry, Shurtliff and Company, a frame foundry building later known as

Birkenhead's spindle shop, situated on West Pratt Street.[19]

The Mansfield Iron Foundry, also called Chilson Furnace Company, completed in 1854, changed

the appearance of that part of the town. A large building for Mansfield, it was 190 by 140 feet,

shaped in plan somewhat like a fat capital letter E, with two brick additions and several other

buildings and its own rail siding. Chilson still maintained his store on Blackstone Street, Boston,

where he sold the products of his foundry. He was an enlightened employer, requiring his men (one

383

of whom, my great-grandfather, a tall, raw-boned 20-year-old named Hiram Barney Reed, came up

from Dighton, Massachusetts, in 1858 to sweat it out as an iron molder) to work only nine hours a

day, compared to the 10 or 12 hours standard with most foundrymen. Chilson demanded capable

workmen but paid them well. Every weekday he showed up at the foundry at 7:30 a. m. and "gave

close attention to his work" until the 8 o'clock Boston train arrived, then he spent the day until 5

p. m. at his Blackstone Street store.[20]

What with raw materials being shipped into the foundry and finished stoves, ranges, heaters and

furnaces going out, Chilson's company brought quite a bit of business to the Boston and Providence

as well as the Taunton Branch. By 1879 the foundry was turning out cast iron stoves for heating

railroad passenger coaches.[21] For 145 years commuters waiting on the platform of Mansfield

depot looked diagonally across the tracks at the familiar facade of the stone foundry building.[22]

In 1853, after a superintendency dating from the early days of the railroad, the well-liked W.

Raymond Lee stepped down in favor of Daniel Nason, who some time previously came over from

the Old Colony Railroad, where he had worked since its inception in a number of operating jobs. It

was during the first year of Nason's distinguished tenure with the Providence road that history was

made. For 18 years the Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation (of Massachusetts) and the

Providence and Boston Rail Road and Transportation Company (of Rhode Island) had acted as if

they were two separate entities. This clumsy and inconvenient organization, or lack thereof, caused

all kinds of unnecessary administrative and bookkeeping complications. Now, it seemed, these two

larger firms aped the Providence, Warren and Bristol. In June, by an act of the Rhode Island

General Assembly, the Providence and Boston Railroad and Transportation Company received

authorization to change its name to Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation and to transfer

its interests to the Massachusetts company of that name, the stockholders in one becoming

stockholders in the other. Thus the entire railroad line in both states passed into the control of the

original Bay State corporation, henceforth to be operated under one head.[23]

* * *

Boston and Providence acquired only one new locomotive in 1853, and that, appropriately, was

named in honor of their just-departed and much respected superintendent: W. R. Lee. Built by

George Griggs in Roxbury shop, this engine was a 4-4-0 type with 66-inch drive wheels and 15-3/4

by 18-inch cylinders, and served twenty years before being cut up for scrap in 1873, after a wreck.

384

Griggs, in fact, was doing himself proud in the construction and nit-picky daily maintenance and

inspection of his small fleet of simple, lightweight, standardized, almost "generic" locomotives, and

despite the spate of broken crank axles to which inside-connected machines were prone, Griggs ran

up an outstanding record of economical operation of motive power with Boston and

Providence.[24]

To help its crews get their trains over the road and in and out of sidings safely and on time,

around 1850 Boston and Providence had ordered 45 English watches from Bond and Sons in

Boston. Some roads about this time lent watches to their locomotive engineers under strict

instructions that they be returned to the company if the engineman left railroad service; but the

Boston and Providence gave theirs out to the conductors, who were in charge of the trains. Many

railroads discontinued this practice after a while because too many watches were turning up in pawn

shops. But Boston and Providence evidently stayed the course.[25]

By 1853 the corporation may have given up on employe ownership of watches but not the idea of

controlling the timepieces‟ all-important accuracy. A set of rules published 31 August 1853 includes

these stipulations:

7. Conductors will submit their watches to Bond & Sons, 17 Congress street, Boston, for

examination, and procure from them a certificate of reliability which will be handed to the

Superintendent.

8. Conductors will report to Messrs Bond any irregularity in the movements of their watches, and

they will clean, repair and regulate them, at the expense of the Corporation, furnishing Conductors

with reliable watches in the interim.

Thus began the regular inspection of watches familiar to railroad men of a much later day.[26]

From watch standardization, the next logical step was a broader one – standardization of time into

zones – and it was the railroads, with their need for a uniform time standard applying to all stations

along their increasingly sprawled-out lines, that brought this to pass.

Early railroads in the United States had inherited the loose timekeeping methods of the slow-

running stagecoaches, which often took days rather than hours and minutes from one terminal to

another.

Because the sun reaches its zenith at different times in different places, each town and city, as a

rule, kept its own time, marking noon when the sun reached its highest point in the local sky. For

example, Bostonians see their midday sun three minutes before it noons at Worcester, therefore

clocks in Worcester were set three minutes behind those in Boston. Philadelphia time was about a

385

quarter hour behind Boston's (in the end, it was Boston and not the Quaker City, which lies close to

the center of the Eastern time zone, that had to set its timepieces back). Good enough for

stagecoaches and steamboats, but this wouldn't do for intercity trains that were scheduled to the

minute! It took a while – at first, each railroad operating out of The Hub ran its trains on Boston

time, transmitted to a master clock from Harvard Observatory, over its entire line – but in 1883,

pushed by the managers of the trunk railroads, whose tracks since 1869 had spanned the nation

coast to coast, the United States government at last brought order out of chaos by establishing the

four now-familiar time zones across the country.[27]

* * *

Meanwhile, exciting new developments were taking place on the Taunton Branch. William

Mason of William Mason and Company (this was the corporate name until 1873, though it was

popularly known as Mason Machine Works) went into action as Taunton's second manufacturer of

locomotives. He was attracted to the business by the high demand for steam engines especially on

the part of the rapidly expanding midwestern railroads, which promised to offset a minor slump in

the demand for the textile machinery he had been making. Undoubtedly too he had become well

aware of the profits being enjoyed by the Taunton locomotive works on the other side of the Branch

tracks.[28] Mason began by erecting a new shop in mid-1852 but it was 26 September 1853, a

Monday, before his first locomotive, named James Guthrie, made its initial test run, probably on the

Taunton Branch track. By 11 October the engine was ready to be sent to its purchaser, the

Jeffersonville Railroad of southern Indiana. Mason built locomotives until 1890;[29] yet, strangely,

considering his close proximity to the Boston and Providence and the known quality of his work,

plus the fact that he produced over 700 engines, he sold that railroad only one machine, and that

was not until 1884.

But without question both Boston and Providence and Taunton Branch benefitted financially

from this new manufacturing plant, from shipping raw material and hardware to it and towing new

locomotives out. Another source of profit to the carriers was the freighting to the Mason and

Taunton locomotive works of parts made elsewhere, such as wheels, axles, flues, springs and rods,

plus boiler plate, sheet metal and bars. Manufactured parts and raw materials came from suppliers

like Kinsley Iron and Machine Company in Canton, which provided engine and tender wheels;

from Village, Connecticut; Wilmington, Delaware; Boston, Bridgewater and Worcester,

Massachusetts; from New York and Pennsylvania; and Brandon, Vermont. Some shipments, notably

386

pig iron and coal, still arrived by coastal schooner at the Taunton River docks, but probably the

most arrived in railroad cars. Almost once a week, Mason's designer and manager climbed aboard

the morning train to Boston to inspect metal at the Hub's warehouses. [30]

Mason was perhaps the first to prove that the functional design of locomotives could be

accompanied by beauty of appearance without the need to add non-functional Victorian clutter and

useless ornament, and became noted for the handsome geometric proportions of his engines.

By this time Taunton was far and away the most important railroad center in southeastern

Massachusetts, having definitely borne away the palm from Mansfield, to the regret of many

residents of the latter town who, after having had a head start, for decades afterward, even into the

early 20th century, mourned what they perhaps incorrectly perceived as their lost chances, which

they blamed on a succession of stick-in-the-mud town fathers. Besides being the hub of several

radiating rail lines, Taunton also dispatched and received freight and passengers from Fall River,

Newport and Bristol by means of the then-navigable Taunton River. Taunton also was to snatch the

stove manufacturing crown from Mansfield, and remained the stove capital of the northeast for

many years.

Perhaps inspired by Providence's example, Norton, Taunton's modest neighbor to the north, in

1853 got itself a classy new passenger "station house," among the few railroad depots designed by

Richard Upjohn, described as one of America's first great Gothic architects. The Norton station is

said to be a significant example of early brick and stone Italianate architecture.[31] I have no idea

whether Upjohn was retained by Taunton Branch Rail Road Company to design its stations, as the

Old Colony later retained the distinguished if rather heavy-handed architect Henry Hobson

Richardson, but he did carry out some commissions in the Taunton area.[32] The Norton depot,

situated on the north side of East Main Street (Massachusetts Route 123) and on the west side of the

former railroad, was for a long time in the latter half of the 20th century used as a paint storehouse

and allowed to get into a shameful state of disrepair and upkeep; it has certainly deserved better

treatment, considering its distinguished origin.

* * *

The year 1853 ended with a rip-snorter of a snowstorm that blocked roads and stopped the

trains.[33] That habitual nature-recorder Isaac Stearns evidently was too wrapped up in political

duties in Boston to make note of it, but Henry Thoreau in Concord, 20 miles northwest of Boston

and 30 miles as the crow flies north of Mansfield, wrote on the 29th of December about the

weather:

387

All day a driving snow-storm, imprisoning most, stopping the [railroad] cars, blocking up the roads.

The cars are nowhere. At the post-office they ask each traveller news of the cars, – "Is there any train

up or down?"

It was to be two days, by which time the snow measured "two feet on a level" (though it was

drifted heavily), before Thoreau wrote that

I hear very distinctly from the railroad causeway the whistle of the locomotive on the Lowell road.

[34]

As late as 2 January 1854 he saw where the trains had "cut through a drift about a quarter of a

mile long and seven to nine feet high, straight up and down."[35]

* * *

On 19 January 1854 Daniel E. Brown of West Mansfield transferred to Boston and Providence by

means of a warrantee deed a parcel of land west of the track and near Tobit‟s depot.[36]

Up until this time the only thing remotely resembling a railroad connection enjoyed by the people

of Easton, Mansfield's next-door neighbor to the east, was a stagecoach that ran from Easton to

Stoughton, where the trains could be taken to Boston. Early in 1854, the brothers Oliver Ames 2nd

and Oakes Ames, influential businessmen who owned and operated a shovel factory in North

Easton,[37] along with Howard Lothrop and other associates petitioned the Massachusetts

legislature for leave to incorporate a railroad under the name of the Easton Branch Railroad

Company. By means of this new road, they reasoned, their shovel works could be connected to the

Stoughton Branch terminus at Stoughton and thence to the Boston and Providence main line. Their

petition was approved by the governor on 3 March and on the same day the new company, which

amounted to an end-to-end extension of the Stoughton Branch, was chartered, followed by its

incorporation on 16 March, and construction commenced at once[38]. This new road, like the

Stoughton Branch, was to be operated by Boston and Providence.[39]

A report made by Boston and Providence to the Massachusetts General Court in 1854 affords us a

good look at the Stoughton Branch.

388

Length of road, single track; 4 miles, 222 feet.

Aggregate length of sidings and other tracks, except main tracks, 2,777 feet.

Weight of rail, per yard, 56 lbs.

Maximum grade, 46 feet per mile for 740 feet.

Total rise and fall, 135-1/2 feet.

Total radius of curvature, 1,080 feet.

Length of curvature, 682 feet.

Total degree of curvature, 172 feet [sic].

Straight line, 2 miles, 207 feet.

Aggregate length of wooded [sic] truss bridges, 50 feet.

Stations, 3.

Washington Street in Canton, in a neighborhood then known as South Canton, was chosen as the

site of a passenger and freight station.[40]

By 1854, Massachusetts, only 20 years after its first trains in revenue service rattled over the iron

rails, boasted 1061 miles of railroad in operation and little Rhode Island had 74; while the several

railroads radiating out of Boston (1850 population 138,788) carried an impressive 15,000 paying

passengers and commuters each way every day.[41]

The management of the Boston and Providence and the Stonington roads along with the New

York steamships, who between them until then had enjoyed a virtual monopoly on quick, safe and

efficient travel between Boston and Manhattan, now found themselves outwitted by an overland

end run. On 3 July 1854 the Boston and New York Central Railroad opened from Blackstone to

Mechanicsville (near Putnam), Connecticut, and passenger trains began running between Boston

and New London by way of Walpole and Franklin over the former Norfolk County and the

Southbridge and Blackstone railroads.[42] This set up a new Boston-New York through service that

must have hurt the combined Boston and Providence and Stonington lines, though trains took a

lengthy nine and quarter to nine and a half hours to make the trip via this new cross-country route.

A timetable taking effect Monday, 7 August 1854, shows that six daily trains of this line from

Boston via Dedham and Walpole to Blackstone, thence over the Boston and New York Central to a

connection with the Norwich and Worcester Rail Road at Mechanicsville and on to New London,

and onward by other roads plus a connecting boat line to New York, were sharing not only Boston

and Providence's Pleasant Street terminal in Boston but also their rails as far as Dedham. As part of

the trackage agreement, these trains were allowed no station stops between Roxbury and Dedham,

389

and the timetable advised passengers for the Boston and New York Central at those depots to meet

the trains at Roxbury or Dedham. "Through Accommodation Trains" left Boston at 6:30 a. m. and

3:30 p. m. and in the opposite direction arrived in Boston at 9:30 a. m. and 6:15 p. m. The 6:30

a. m. train reached New York at 4:20 p. m. the same day, while the train arriving at Boston at 6:15

p. m. left New York at 8:00 a. m. In addition, Medway Branch trains left Medway for Boston at

6:15 and 8:30 a. m. and 5:15 p. m. and departed Boston on the return trips at 6:50 a. m. and 3:30

and 6:30 p. m. This converted Dedham belatedly and almost involuntarily into a transportation

center, and the good freight service gave birth to a burst of industrial development in the town.

Adding to this new rivalry, on 2 October 1854 trains to and from Willimantic operated by the

Hartford, Providence and Fishkill (incorporated in 1849) began running in and out of Providence

Union Station, although that railroad company owned no part of the building. The timetable advised

that "Passengers leaving Providence in the morning and afternoon Trains connect at Blackstone

with the Trains on the B. & N. Y. C. R. R. to and from Boston, Norwich and New York."[43]

It was also about 1854 that J. G. Cooper took over running the restaurant in Pleasant Street

station, Boston, staying in that post until 1875.[44]

In the Massachusetts state elections of 1854, the voters, alarmed by the large and growing influx

of aliens, mainly Irish Catholics (many of whom worked for the various railroads), whose religion,

degree of literacy, appearance, speech and habits were so different from what the ingrown Yankees

had been accustomed to, swept the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic Native American or "Know-

Nothing" Party solidly into all state-wide offices including governorship and legislature. [45] This

retreat from cultural diversity, which today has become a sacred cow, might seem a step backward;

at best, it was a rear-guard action against the inevitable future. Yet it was the Know-Nothing

government of Massachusetts that enacted the first legally enforceable railroad safety measures in

the United States, although (as became typical) they had to fly in the face of determined attempts by

the railroad managements to block these progressive measures.[46] One constructive act passed by

the Massachusetts General Court between 1854 and 1856 was the so-called "Know Nothing

Station," which obliged trains to come to a full stop before crossing another railroad at grade[47]

such as at the diamond crossing of the Boston and Providence with the Boston and Worcester on the

Back Bay flats.

Henry Thoreau rode the Boston and Providence on a cold 6 December 1854 and penned in his

journal for that date:

390

To Providence to lecture.

I see thick ice and boys skating all the way to Providence . . . .

In order to go to Blue Hill by Providence Railroad, stop at Readville Station (Dedham Low Plains

once), eight miles; the hill apparently two miles east. Was struck with the Providence depot, its

towers and great length of brick. Lectured in it.

The paper that Thoreau read at the Independent Lectures in Railroad Hall in the union depot on

Exchange Place, which in his opinion was poorly received by his audience, was an early version of

his famed essay "Life without Principle," first published posthumously.[48]

In 1854 Boston and Providence acquired two new locomotives, Washington and (the second

engine to bear that name) New York. Both were 4-4-0 types with 15 by 20-inch cylinders, built by

George Griggs in Roxbury shop. Washington had the larger drive wheels of the two, 66 inches, as

against 60 inches for New York. Washington was retired in 1888 and New York in 1887.[49]

Obviously the original Forrester-built New York of 1835 was gone from the roster.

This left the Boston and Providence with probably the following healthy collection of 20 active

engines at the end of 1854: Boston (the last survivor of the 1835 fleet and the last Britisher!), King

Philip, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol, second Massachusetts, Blackstone, Taghonic, Narragansett, Iron

Horse (also known as Hyde Park), Rhode Island, second Providence, second Canton, second

Neponset, Highlander, Roxbury, second Dedham, W. R. Lee, Washington and second New York.

* * *

One day in summer of 1978 my sister, visiting from Alabama, mentioned to an antique dealer in

Mansfield that her brother was a collector of old railroad photographs. The dealer told her that until

just recently he had owned a rare 1850s ambrotype of a Boston and Providence locomotive named

George S. Griggs. He had bought the picture from a member of one of Mansfield's old railroad

families who had retired and wished to dispose of some of his possessions before moving to another

part of the United States. Unfortunately for serious collectors of historic railroad photos, the dealer

had sold it to a man whose only purpose for wanting the picture was that it "looked like something

that would go readily" at a flea market.[50]

The significant fact about this picture was that it showed Griggs posed on the turntable at

Mansfield with its boiler blown to smithereens!

391

What do we know about this ill-fated machine? In a departure from their usual procedure of

building engines at home, Boston and Providence in 1855 bought a locomotive from Amoskeag

Manufacturing Company (construction number 204) and named it in honor of their long-time and

highly respected master mechanic. Perhaps for good reason, it was the first, last and only engine the

railroad ever bought from the Manchester, New Hampshire, builder.[51]

The brand new George S. Griggs was a 4-4-0 with cylinders 15 inches in diameter, 22-inch piston

stroke and 54-inch driving wheels[52] and carried the new slab-rail frame.[53] Exactly where and

when the boiler blew up I do not know, but my assumption is that it occurred near Mansfield and in

1855. Nor do I know what caused the blow-up or whether fatalities occurred.

In a footnote to a previous chapter I have gone into the causes and the horrible effects of boiler

ruptures. Suffice it to add here that because the main force of a boiler explosion was expended

upward, the frame, wheels and running gear generally were preserved relatively intact, and so it

must have been with Griggs, because from Mansfield's turntable it was towed to Roxbury shop and

reconditioned.

In 19th century New England marine tradition, when a vessel was rebuilt she kept her name even

if nothing remained of the original but the keel.[54] Not so with wrecked or exploded locomotives!

A jinx was thought to be attached to such engines, and this demanded a whole new identity. In the

case of George S. Griggs, not only had the master mechanic's name been painted, probably in

ornate lettering, on its flanks but also (as was customary in those over-decorative days) his portrait

graced the sides of the headlight.

When Griggs was reassembled at Roxbury with a new boiler and whatever else had to be done to

put her back in shape, master mechanic Griggs, either because he feared his reputation would suffer,

was embarrassed by the irony that the first engine named for him should meet with so sudden and

perhaps deadly a fate, or out of respect for the superstitions of the crewmen who would have to

drive her, would have no part in restoring his name or portrait to the hoodooed engine. Instead, he

ordered the name King Philip painted on her sides.[55]

The catch was that a Boston and Providence engine named King Philip already existed – a Locks

and Canals 2-2-0 "Planet" clone of 1839. In fact, that very engine apparently was also in Griggs's

Roxbury shops being converted to a 4-4-0 with 15 by 20-inch cylinders and 54-inch drivers. The

Boston and Providence brass collars went along with their master mechanic's insistence that the

392

engine formerly named for him should carry the handle King Philip; while the original Philip was

renamed Attleboro (the only locomotive to carry the name of that city on the side of her cab; it later

was given the number 12).

The new and reboilered King Philip (ex-Griggs) appears not to have survived very long; it

vanishes from the Boston and Providence active roster before 1858, by which time all engines had

received numbers – King Philip was never numbered. My explanation for this disappearance is

purely guesswork, but it is a railroad tradition and perhaps a fact that engines salvaged and repaired

after being heavily damaged in explosions or wrecks often are never quite the same afterward –

something remains subtly out of whack in some indiscoverable way, so that they are prone to

subsequent derailments or other mysterious problems. Perhaps this is why the rebuilt Griggs/King

Philip disappears. Or maybe engine crews rebelled against serving on her. Neither is it clear why

the rebuilt Griggs was not named Attleboro, allowing the original King Philip to keep its own name.

The answer to these questions, like so many others, probably will never be known.

The original King Philip, rebuilt from a 2-2-0 to a 4-4-0, renamed Attleboro, served until it was

scrapped in 1880.[56] In addition to the above-described rebuilding and name-swapping, Boston

and Providence obtained one other engine in 1855, a 4-4-0 named Mansfield. This was not a new

locomotive, but was acquired in August from the Southbridge and Blackstone (Norfolk County)

Railroad, which had called it Hamilton Willis. Built by Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing

Company (their construction number 156) in 1854, this engine had 16 by 20-inch cylinders and 60-

inch drivers. It was junked in 1877[57] after having been used to haul Mansfield-Providence local

runs. It seems ironic that the significant junction town of Mansfield, home to the railroad's first

union passenger station, had to be content with having a second-hand machine named for her.

All this left Boston and Providence with 20 or 22 active locomotives at the end of 1855: perhaps

Boston, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bristol, second Massachusetts, maybe Blackstone, Taghonic,

Narragansett, Iron Horse or Hyde Park, Rhode Island, second Providence, second Canton, second

Neponset, Highlander, Roxbury, second Dedham, W. R. Lee, Washington, second New York, second

King Philip (ex-G. S. Griggs), Attleboro (ex-first King Philip) and Mansfield.

Some time between 1855 and 1858 the Boston and Providence management decided to assign

road numbers to their engines, while retaining the names. The last new unnumbered locomotives

obtained by the road (except for three switchers bought between 1869 and 1882 and the double-

ended Janus that was tried out in 1871 but never purchased) were Roxbury and Dedham, built in

393

1851, and the aforesaid George S. Griggs, built in 1855 and renamed King Philip that same year.

Because of the uncertainty of this period, I shall delay until 1858 my roster of the numbered and

unnumbered engines believed to be on Boston and Providence property at that time.

* * *

On New Year's Day 1855 the Boston and New York Central, originally authorized in the charter

of the Midland Railroad, opened from a new Boston station at the foot of Summer Street, via the

Dorchester route to South Dedham, 12.5 miles, and Islington, as originally set forth in the Midland's

charter, bridging the Boston and Providence at Readville. At South Dedham the Boston and New

York Central connected with its own road (formerly the Norfolk County Railroad), as part of the

through line from Boston to New York by way of the Norwich and Worcester Rail Road and its

connecting boat line, the Norwich and New York Transportation Company.[58]

The Boston and New York Central enjoyed operating over the Dorchester route for only a bit

more than six months when on 14 July 1855 the line shut down because of an injunction obtained

by the town of Dorchester (which was not yet a part of Boston) until certain street bridges had been

built. The injunction was not lifted until 1856. The mortgage trustees of Norfolk County Railroad

took over that route from Boston and New York Central 6 August 1855 and leased it to Boston and

Providence, which operated it until 2 March 1857, when possession of the property went to the East

Thompson Railroad Company under lease, this latter corporation commencing operation of the road

under contract with the trustees. In 1856 the injunction against Boston and New York Central was

removed and that company resumed operation of the line between Boston and South Dedham.[59]

On 16 May 1855, less than a year after construction commenced, the Ames family's Easton

Branch Railroad opened for service between Stoughton and North Easton, 3.8 miles, and the first

passenger train steamed proudly into the latter village. Perhaps not enough work had been put into

the track structure, because next morning, as the train started on its return trip, the rails spread and

the locomotive's wheels went on the ground. After it was rerailed, conductor Green Hodsdon, who

was "much disinclined to come to North Easton at all, said to David Standish the engineer, 'Get onto

the engine David, and we'll leave this place to once.'"[60] This entire line was operated by Boston

and Providence from the date of its opening until 23 September 1866.[61]

On Fourth of July 1855 the first locomotive ran over the line of the Providence, Warren and

Bristol, which became the fourth railroad to enter Providence. This road at first had no rolling stock,

but hired equipment from Boston and Providence.[62] Incoming trains stopped at the old India

Point terminal on the east side of the city[63] where, because of the intervening obstacle of College

Hill, the locomotives were cut off and the cars hauled by horses along South Main and Water

394

Streets to Union depot.[64] At Bristol the trains connected with a steamboat to Newport[65] and

herein lay the motive behind Boston and Providence's interest in the line: they wanted to prevent it

and Newport's superior harbor facilities getting into the hands of rival Old Colony. This interest

revealed itself on 12 July when the Boston and Providence Corporation [sic] took over operation of

this road at cost and ran it until 1860.[66]

It was in 1856 that 27-year-old Fred Paine, who had spent much of his time around the Mansfield

station, first sawing fuel wood for the depot stove, then for the engines, and then working as

fireman on the New Bedford-Boston train[67] and engineer, moved with his recent bride into the

depot to take care of it (perhaps agent Jim Greene was feeling the effects of advancing age) and to

run the station restaurant, a position Davis Dunham had held for the previous 20 years.[68]

* * *

The collapse of the railroad-construction boom in 1855, following close on the heels of the peak

antebellum year of 1854,[69] was only the first of a number of blows to strike the Boston and

Providence during this decade.

Bad weather continued to get in its licks. Some say that what meteorologists call the "Little Ice

Age," a period of frigid temperatures beginning around the year 1300, ended about 1850. If so,

southeastern New England, despite a couple of torrid summers, failed to get word. The region was

struck by two successive hellacious winters that must have wiped out all memories of the blizzard

of 1853. Thoreau records in his Journal that a dry, light, powdery snow began falling in Concord the

night of 29 December 1855 and by next day had accumulated to the depth of a foot, causing the

Fitchburg Railroad to unlimber its plow, which cast the snow up six feet high. More snow followed,

drifted by a howling wind with temperatures as low as minus 12 degrees, so that the Concord sage

wrote on 8 January, "For a couple of days the cars have been very much delayed by the snow, and it

is now drifting somewhat . . . spoiling the labor of the track-repairers, gradually burying the rails."

On the 10th, a Thursday, Thoreau commented that "the snow-storm of Saturday night was a

remarkable one, reaching many hundred miles along the coast. It is said that some thousands passed

the night in [railroad] cars." By the first of February trains still were being "detained" by the deep

snow and on the day following a new fall of drifting snow on the 17th Thoreau reported "No cars

from above or below until 1 P. M."[70]

As if to presage the financial chill that followed, 1857 too opened with an ominous cold spell.

The "Great Cold Storm" of 18-19 January – a fine, needle-like snow driven on gale winds with

395

temperatures varying from 13 below zero at Boston to the single figures above – "caused the

greatest disruption of rail traffic since trains commenced running in the mid-1830s."[71] The week

of 19 to 26 January was the coldest ever known at Boston, where normally temperatures are milder

than they are a few miles inland as at Mansfield, thermometers in The Hub dropping to minus 24 on

the 24th; Boston Harbor was frozen over as far out as Boston Light, when for 36 hours the

temperature remained below zero and locomotives struggled to keep their ice-bound cars with

frozen wheel bearings moving across the Arctic landscape. But this was only the beginning of the

problems that were to face the railroads that year.

* * *

Boston and Providence's public timetable, labeled "Winter arrangement" for 1857, took effect

during this blizzardy time, on Monday, 12 January:

BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE

Miles Fares Station 1st Trn 2d Trn

1 cl. 2 cl. AM PM

--- --- --- BOSTON 8 00 4 00

2 --- --- ROXBURY f f

3-1/2 --- --- JAMAICA PLAIN f f

8-1/2 30 30 READVILLE f f

14 50 40 CANTON 8 40 4 38

17-1/2 60 50 SHARON 8 51 4 48

21-1/2 75 60 FOXBORO' 9 01 4 57

24 85 65 MANSFIELD 9 10 5 07

26 90 70 TOBEY'S 9 16 5 12

31 1 05 85 ATTLEBORO' 9 30 5 25

32 1 10 90 DODGEVILLE 9 36 5 30

39 1 35 1 10 PAWTUCKET 9 46 5 41

43-1/2 1 50 1 20 PROVIDENCE 10 05 5 55

396

PROVIDENCE TO BOSTON

Miles Fares Station 1st Trn 2d Trn 3d Trn

1 cl. 2 cl. AM PM AM

--- --- --- PROVIDENCE ----- 8 10 4 15

4-1/2 15 15 PAWTUCKET ----- f f

11-1/2 40 30 DODGEVILLE ----- f f

12-1/2 45 35 ATTLEBORO' ----- 8 40 4 43

17-1/2 60 50 TOBEY'S ----- 8 53 4 55

19-1/2 60 55 MANSFIELD ----- 9 03 5 05

22 75 60 FOXBORO' ----- 9 11 5 13

26 90 75 SHARON ----- 9 24 5 20

29-1/2 1 00 80 CANTON ----- 9 34 5 35

35 1 20 95 READVILLE ----- f f

40 1 40 1 10 JAMAICA PLAIN ----- f f

41-1/2 1 45 1 15 ROXBURY ----- f f

43-1/2 1 50 1 20 BOSTON ----- 10 15 6 15

[1st Trn] On arrival of Steamboat train from Stonington, stopping only to leave passengers from New

York.

["f," this author's symbol, used in current timetables to indicate "flag stop"; the B&P timetable uses a

horizontal bracket] Stop only to take passengers [Boston to Providence]. Stop only to leave passengers

[Providence to Boston].

PASSENGER FARES

The fares noted in the Tables of the B. & P. R. R. . . . apply to tickets bought at ticket offices. If the fares

are paid in the cars to the Conductor, an additional five cents will be charged.

Train No. 4 [not shown in the timetable] is the Steamboat train, which carries Passengers to

Stonington, where they take a steamer to New York. Cabin passage to N. Y., $5.00 Deck do. do., $3.50.

Baggage to and from New York is checked and accompanied by a Baggage Master especially employed

for that purpose. Baggage to and from Boston and Providence is also checked.

BAGGAGE.--The Company contracts with each Passenger to carry 80 lbs. of personal baggage,

not valued over $200. It will carry baggage of greater value than that sum by special contract, and the

payment of an extra charge, and not otherwise. . . .

REMARKS

POLICE

Smoking is prohibited at stations, or on the foot-boards of cars.

Passengers must not stand on the foot-boards of cars or jump on or off when the cars are in motion.

397

FREIGHT TRAINS

Leave Boston, Way freight at 11.05 AM; N. York freight at 1.00 PM; Providence fr't at 6.10 PM.

Leave Providence, Boston freight at 4 AM; N. York freight at 8.40 AM; Way freight at 10.10. Running

time, 3 hours.

OFFICERS

DANIEL NASON, Superintendent; Office, Passenger Station, Boston.

I. A. BROOKS, Sup't of Transportation; Office, Passenger Station, Providence.

Conductor of Steamboat Train, S. W. WILLSON.

" " 1st Train from Boston and 2d Train from Providence, H. D. WARD.

" " 1st Train from Providence and 3d Train from Boston, IRA F. GLIDDEN.

" " 2d Train from Boston and 4th Train from Providence. [Not listed or illegible.]

Ticket Clerk, Boston, H. C. ALDEN. Ticket Clerk, Providence, W. H. P. STEERE.[72]

* * *

Another railroad that eventually would be swept up by Boston and Providence was chartered in

Rhode Island 30 May 1856. This was the Warren and Fall River Railroad Company, which was

granted the authority to build a road from Warren, Rhode Island, to the Massachusetts state line and

to unite with a Massachusetts company, also called the Warren and Fall River, chartered 17 March

1857 and empowered to build a railroad in Massachusetts from the Rhode Island line in Swansea to

Fall River.[73]

One more link, and a central one, in the developing chain of Boston to New York shore line rail

service was forged with the charter on 9 June 1856 of the New Haven, New London and Stonington

Railroad Company. This road was a union of the New London and Stonington and the New Haven

and New London railroad companies, which then had in operation a road from New Haven to New

London and owned the right to construct and operate a ferry service across the Thames River from

New London to Groton plus the right to build a railroad from Groton to the terminus of New-York,

Providence and Boston at Stonington.[74] The time would come, though it yet was not near, when

the completed shore line railroad would sound the death knell of the valiantly competing air line

route through Walpole and Blackstone.

398

NOTES

1. A precedent for Amtrak's recent attempts (over the protests of the self-supporting freight railroads) to turn its

money-losing passenger trains into money-makers by including fast freight, mail and express cars in their taxpayer-

subsidized consists. As of this writing, Amtrak is giving up its express business.

2. Mansfield News 30 May 1884; Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 69-70; Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 737.

3. I. Stearns to Susanna Stearns in Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 753.

4. Copeland 1934c.

5. Copeland 1934d.

6. Copeland 1931c, 1934d, 1936-56: 63, 159, 264. There seems to be a bit of confusion about the horses.

7. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 18. This line had nothing to do with the New York Central of later fame.

8. Harlow 1946: 199.

9. C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 20-21.

10. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 19.

11. Babcock 1922.

12. Journal 9 July 1852, v. 9, p. 206.

13. Bayles 1891; Harlow 1946: 229.

14. FWP-RI 1937: 90; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 20.

15. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 20.

16. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 22.

17. From old railroad plan, NYNH&H map 62530, on file in Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton,

courtesy of L. F. Flynn 1998. Both deeds were recorded at Taunton 25 Jan. 1853, v. 206, p. 446, 449.

18. Buck c1980, v. 3, p. 775, 776, 778, 782. Manuel may have been thinking of bidding on the construction of the

proposed Hoosac Tunnel in the Berkshire Hills of western Mass. Building of the tunnel lasted longer than Boston's "Big

Dig" --it began in 1855 and continued, with interruptions, until its completion in 1876. Manuel is not listed among the

names of the six successive contractors.

19. Copeland 1934c. Chilson at the same time bought about 50 acres of woodland and pasture on the east side of the

main street, perhaps the former “Branchville” properties of Dorr; this was to become the site of his elegant home. On 1

July 1854 Chilson transferred to Boston and Providence two parcels of land, one by grant, the other by agreement with

the railroad. These deeds were recorded in Bristol Cty Northern District Registry of Deeds, Taunton, Mass., on 10 Aug.

1854. (B&P right of way and track map, 1915).

20. Copeland 1934c, 1936-56: 148-156. Miss Copeland seems uncertain of the date of Chilson's arrival in

Mansfield, writing in one place that he came to town in 1854 but had completed his stone foundry in 1853.

21. Forney 1879: 156, 409 fig. 546.

22. After the former Chilson foundry had lain empty for a time, plans were being made to convert it into the annex

of a proposed new passenger station. But on 22 April 1999 the floors, roof and other wooden parts of the building

burned spectacularly in a fire set by boys; and, even more unfortunate, with no regard for either future use or historical

value, next day the heavy masonry walls were demolished (many townspeople thought prematurely) without any

attempt being made to determine if they could be saved.

23. Bayles 1891; Belcher 1938: no. 7; NHRAA 1940-52.

399

24. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Amer. R. R. Jour. 16 July 1853: 458-60 quoted by White 1968-79: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

25. As Boston & Providence had only 15 to 18 locomotives in service at this time, one wonders how the 45 watches

were allocated.

26. Bartky 2000: 29. These of course were pocket watches. Until that time U. S. watch manufacturers had been

unable to compete with the well-made English watches, which probably were of the "duplex escapement" type and kept

time accurately. By 1860 American watchmakers such as Waltham in Massachusetts began using machinery to mass-

produce interchangeable parts, underselling the English, who still turned out watches using traditional practices.

27. In mid-19th century most railroads operated under their own time standard, and there were over 50 standards in

the U. S. Dr. Charles F. Dowd worked out the system of standard time adopted in 1883.

28. Lozier 1986: 423-7.

29. Alexander 1941: 235; Lozier 1978-86: 428, 430; Levasseur 1994: 36.

30. Lozier 1986: 454-60.

31. Flanagan 1980, evidence of Norton historian Curtis Dahl.

32. Norton Hist. Soc. 1998, q. v. for photo of Norton depot. Upjohn (1802-1878) was born in Shaftesbury, England,

where he supported himself as a cabinet maker. He.came to Boston in 1829 or 1839 (I have seen both dates) and

received commissions for structures in many states. He worked mainly with churches, noted examples being Trinity

Church on Wall Street, New York, which he rebuilt 1839-46, Grace Episcopal Church in Providence (consecrated 1846)

and St. Stephen's Church in Providence (1862-65); but he also designed houses and public buildings. The Norton depot

became commonly referred to as "East Norton." Upjohn was first president of the American Institute of Architects.

33. Clark 1859: 539.

34. Journal 30 Dec. 1853.

35. Journal 2 Jan. 1854.

36. Registered at Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds, Taunton, v. 215, p. 122, 31 Jan. 1854. From old railroad

plan NYNH&H map 62530 on file at Taunton, courtesy of L. F. Flynn 1998.

37. Oliver Ames, father of Oliver 2nd, began making shovels in North Easton in 1803. Oliver 2nd (1807-1877) in

1844 entered into copartnership with his father and his better-known brother Oakes (1804-1873) to form the company

of Oliver Ames & Sons. The California gold rush of 1849 brought wealth to them and their shovel business. Oakes, who

became a Congressman, and Oliver 2nd went on to push the 1864 Pacific Railway Act through Congress in the wake of

the Civil War and subsequently were involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal. Oliver became president of Union Pacific

Railway, a far cry from the minuscule Easton Branch, and later was associated with railroad financial schemer Jay

Gould. Oakes, for his role in Credit Mobilier, was given the nickname "Hoax" by the muckraking New York Herald. A

massive 60-foot stone monument was erected by the Union Pacific at Sherman, Wyo., in memory of Oakes and Oliver

2nd, who are remembered respectfully in their home town of Easton. By 1886 the Ames works, all of whose masonry

shop buildings if placed end to end would reach for nearly a half mile, were turning out an incredible 1,410,000 shovels

annually.

38. Chaffin 1886: 759; Fisher/Dubiel 1919-1974: 22.

39. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 21; A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002.

40. Quoted in Galvin 1987: 7-8.

41. Old Farmer's Almanac 1854: 42-3; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 8.

42. C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 21.

400

43. B&NYC R. R. timetable 4 Aug. 1854, courtesy of L. V. Cotnoir; B&NYC R. R. 4 Aug. 1854 in DeLuca 1999:

13; De Lue 1925: 238; Jacobs 1926 in Hall and Wuchert 1983: v. 1, p. 33; C. Fisher 1939: 70; NHRAA 1940-52/2002:

22; Dedham Hist. Soc., undated. From Providence to Willimantic was 58.5 miles.

44. Barrett 1996: 185.

45. FWP-Mass.: 1937: 48-9. Mansfield coal mining enthusiast Foster Bryant was a militant proponent in the 1850s

of this short-lived ethnocentric movement, as Isaac Stearns was an opponent. Bryant, who believed the Bible sanctioned

slavery though he opposed its extension into non-slave states, boasted of being "an original Member of the 'Old

American Guard' of 1845'" and advertised himself as available to address anyone willing to listen on the "Heinous

influence of foreign immigration on American labor" (Knobel 1986: following p. 156). The term "Know-Nothings"

originated in 1850 (op. cit.: 19). "Native American," now a politically correct expression meaning "American Indian"

(one term is as illogical and historically incorrect as the other), in the 19th century meant a "WASP."

46. Wernick 1966: 156.

47. Chaffin 1886: 631. Rev. Chaffin calls this act "the one good thing [the Know Nothing] Legislature did . . . ," but

he forgets or did not know of other safety measures forced by the lawmakers on the railroads. At the present time this

kind of obligatory halt for safety purposes is called a "statutory stop."

48. W. Harding 1965-67: 342-3. I have seen no evidence that Thoreau ever detrained at Readville to visit Blue Hill.

49. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii. See C. Fisher op. cit. for a photo of Washington with a four-wheel tender

and White 1981: 36 for a drawing of New York.

50. As Thoreau wrote in Walden after someone stole an "improperly gilded" volume of Homer from his cabin, "this

I trust that a soldier of our camp has found by this time."

51. Amoskeag had acquired a reputation for building lightweight locomotives that were insufficiently substantial

(White 1968-79: 450).

52. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

53. White 1968-79: 163. In this frame, introduced in Scotland about 1846 and placed on U. S. locomotives in 1854, a

single thin, deep side rail replaced the square top and bottom rails of the older bar frame (ibid.: 162).

54. So stated famed world circumnavigator Capt. Joshua Slocum. Those who know of the Monitor-Merrimack fight

will recall that U. S. navy men, even some who formerly served aboard CSS Virginia (as the Confederates renamed

Merrimack), continued to call the reborn warship by her former name.

55. Botkin and Harlow 1953: 479.

56. Belcher 1938: no. 3; C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvi, xvii. The official spelling of the city's name, which

then was "Attleborough," does not appear on the cab in a rare photograph of number 12, Attleboro, printed in the

Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle 18 Mar. 2000; instead, the "ugh" has been amputated, as it is in current usage.

In that picture, the locomotive, a typical Griggs inside-cylinder machine, is stopped with its reverse lever in the forward

position, on a grade crossing marked by an overhead sign reading "Rail Road crossing – Look out for the engine," in an

unidentified location. The tender is of the 2-4 wheel arrangement. The engineer sits in the right-hand window and the

fireman, in the gangway, holds a traditional long-spouted oil can. This photo would have to have been taken between

1855 and 1880, when Attleboro was scrapped.

57. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

58. C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 22.

59. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 23, 24.

401

60. Chaffin 1886: 759.

61. Appleton 1871: 5; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 22. A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002 gives the

date as 10 May 1856.

62. Bayles 1891.

63. FWP--RI 1937: 90.

64. Harlow 1946: 229-30.

65. OFA 1856: 42.

66. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 23. Levitt ed. in ibid. says, "The 'Boston and Providence Corporation of Massachusetts'

is mentioned in an 1839 Report of the [Mass.] Committee on Railways and Canals. This suggests that this was a

separate organization" from Boston & Providence Railroad. However, the name may have been an inadvertent

shortening of Boston & Providence Rail Road Corporation authorized in June 1853.

67. Mansfield News 30 May 1884.

68. Copeland 1931b.

69. Lozier 1986: 498.

70. Thoreau, Journal. Partly due the moderating influence of the ocean, snowfalls generally are lighter and winter

temperatures higher between Boston and Providence than in Concord.

71. Rothovius 1966: 110-1. Several churches in southeastern Mass. were flattened by the gale and their ruins

buried under great drifts. In Concord, Thoreau recorded (18 Jan. 1857), "A very cold day. . . . Began to snow in the

evening, the thermometer at zero." And on the 19th, "A snow-storm with very high wind all last night and to-day. . . .

[I]t is exceedingly drifted, so that the first train gets down about noon and none gets up till about 6 P. M.! . . . A fine dry

snow, intolerable to face." The following day he measured 12 to 15 inches of snow on a level, but commented that the

drifts were "very large." Thoreau reported a low temperature of minus 20 F at Concord on the 18th, rising to zero in the

afternoon. On 6 Feb. he noted that "a thin black glaze" encased "the iron rails and the telegraph wire."

72. Barrett 1996: 212, from Feb. 1857 Pathfinder Railway Guide for the New England States. The reference to "foot-

boards" is curiously suggestive of British car construction rather than American, and I am not sure whether "steps" is

meant. Henry C. Alden by 1871 was a Boston & Providence passenger conductor (All Ticket Forum Jan. 2002: 485).

Was smoking, though not allowed on the "foot-boards," permitted inside all cars? The smoking prohibition in stations

presages the numerous no-smoking bans of the present.

73. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 23-24.

74. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 24.

402

24 – The Panic of 1857

A spectacular incident the night of 13 May 1857 must have gone a considerable way toward

convincing the Boston and Providence to convert from wood fuel to coal. Near their old Exchange

Place terminal at India Point on the west side of Seekonk River in Providence, where scows and

schooners from the southern woodlands came in and tied up, the railroad maintained a wood track

one mile long. The crew of a locomotive backing down to "wood up" that night found the entire

pile in flames. There had been a "tempest" between eight and ten o'clock the evening before, with

"great rain."[1] But clearly this was not sufficient to dampen the wood yard; or perhaps the wood

was piled under a long shed roof that protected it from the elements.

Railroad officials had set up a procedure to be followed in such a fire emergency, and the

locomotive crew observed it to a T. They sprinted to the house of the sexton of the nearby First

Congregational meeting house, rousted him out of dreamland and had him toll the church bell that

served as a fire alarm. A hand pumping engine named Gazelle was towed to the scene by a party of

hard-running fire fighters, and while some worked the pump handles to lift water from the harbor

others directed a stream onto the blaze. The men of Gazelle, aided by other fire companies that

were called, pumped for 27 exhausting hours, but their heroic efforts were in vain; the seasoned

pine burned furiously, and when all was over, nothing remained of a thousand cords of locomotive

fuel but heaps of water-soaked ashes.[2]

The debate about wood versus coal as a fuel for steam locomotives reminds one again of the

steam versus diesel controversy of the 1940s and '50s. When each debate was over, the smoke had

subsided and all the vehement opinions on both sides had been heard at tiresome length, one had to

wonder why it took so long to come to the logical decision. By mid-20th century the conversion to

diesel oil was jump-started by a series of coal miners' strikes which, no matter how justified,

resulted in an unreliable supply of fuel for the steam locomotives.[3] One hundred years earlier the

spur applied to a lagging horse was the acute shortage of locally available wood for fuel. It was

also a matter of inventive ingenuity and technology catching up with the availability of coal. Yet as

late as 1876 some wood-burning locomotives still operated on the lines running in and out of

Mansfield.[4]

It is a common belief that the earliest locomotives here and abroad burned wood and that use of

coal came later. In fact, the first English engines, which were used to haul coal from the mines,

403

quite naturally burned coal or coke. Coal-burning engines were operating on the Middleton

Railway by 1811 and were used on English public railways on a regular basis from 1825.[5]

Boston and Providence, while under construction, operated anthracite-burning power as early as

1833, and further experimented with burning coke in at least one of their locomotives in 1834.

Wood came to be used as fuel throughout most of the United States because outside the principal

coal-producing states of Pennsylvania and Maryland it was cheaper than coal, and despite its

proclivity for throwing burning embers and sparks, it was cleaner than bituminous coal, which

tended to sprinkle everything with black dust and soot.[6]

Those who live in what is now the eighth most heavily forested state in the union, measured in

terms of the percentage of Massachusetts covered by woods, would be astonished to see the

denuded appearance of southeastern New England after 1835, especially around urban areas.

Needing so much cordwood to heat their houses, timber for construction, poles, fencing, shingles,

railroad ties and for building whaling vessels in New Bedford, charcoal for jewelry shops and

forges where intense heat was required, and oak or ash logs for the basket industries that thrived in

the area,[7] farmers were hard pressed for wood to sell to the railroads for fuel. Part of the

denuded look was caused when the farmers, prevented by heavy snows from getting to what

woodlots they had left, cut down the prized shade trees around their homes for winter firewood.

A farm writer in the Boston Cultivator in 1848 fretted that on woodlands near the railroads, “the locomotives [were] sweeping away thousands upon thousands of acres yearly . . . .”[8]

Boston and Providence almost from the beginning had a disproportionate problem with fuel

wood for their engines. As mentioned before, in 1838, when they were paying $7.00 a cord for

sawed, split and seasoned pitch pine wood, their locomotives got 36 miles to a cord (which meant

that most through trains had to stop and "wood up" at Mansfield or another intermediate point) at a

cost of 16 cents per mile; while at the same time, the Boston and Worcester, experimenting with

coal, was getting 56 miles per ton and paying only 12.4 cents per mile for fuel. Adding to the

difficulties was the unpredictable up-and-down price of wood: from $7.00, pine fell to $3.50 a cord

in 1855 and was to rise to $5.41 in 1860.[9]

In 1853, Boston and Providence, faced with an increasingly severe and apparently permanent

shortage of locally available wood (already for some years they had been buying wood in the

South), paid $13,500 for 1753-1/2 acres of forestland in Virginia, along with more property in

North Carolina. There they hired a great many men, built dinky logging railroads into the woods

404

with wharf facilities at one end and sawmills at the other, and even opened company stores for

their employes. Lighters were purchased to float the cut wood from the wharves out to a fleet of

scows, sloops and schooners which then beat their way up the coast to Providence or Boston. The

railroad's annual report for 1856 remarked, however, that the Virginia holdings were too remote to

be managed properly, and expressed a corporate desire to sell off the tracts and opt out of the wood

business.[10] It was about this time that the railroad's management began to realize that the

renewable fuel grown in small local woodlots along their line produced steam as well as firewood

brought from a distance.[11] But there just wasn't enough of it.

With the price of wood starting again to escalate simultaneously with the decline in the cost of

coal shipped from Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia, the directors of the Providence and Worcester

Railroad in 1855 undertook a study to determine the feasibility of changing from wood to coal.

When research showed that using “soft” (bituminous) coal would save them nearly fifty percent in fuel costs, they began converting their locomotives to burn fossil fuel.[12]

There were other disadvantages to burning wood. Flaming embers from inadequately netted

stacks set fires to woods, brush, hayfields, wooden-shingled barns and other structures along the

tracks, not to mention the roofs of the cars themselves; and travelers complained about flying

sparks and cinders entering the open windows of passenger coaches and burning holes in their

clothing, umbrellas and themselves. Wood yards, as we just have seen, could catch fire and burn to

ashes with a loss of thousands of dollars. Yet wood was a familiar fuel, easy and simple to use –

just about every New England household employed it for heating and cooking.

The coal with which Boston and Providence had flirted briefly twenty years before was

Pennsylvania anthracite, which had the advantage of being clean burning and relatively smokeless,

making it suitable for heating passenger coaches, stations and other interior spaces inhabited by

humans, but it had disadvantages galore not yet fully understood as late as the 1850s (some critics

called it "stone coal") – its low percentage of volatile gases made it hard to ignite and slow to burn,

necessitating a blower to keep it alight and a broad, well-made grate (wood needed a very simple

grate or none) raised close beneath the crown sheet. Bituminous coal, though dirtier and smokier,

was less of a problem for the fireman who at a dollar and a half a day was not likely to have

acquired much formal education in the theory of combustion.

Serious coal experimentation by American railroads began in the 1840s and continued for

twenty years. Early on it was recognized that coal presented problems not previously encountered

405

with wood. Aside from the above-mentioned necessity of introducing suitable grates and a means

of providing a strong artificial draft, the intense heat generated by coal warped or burned out

firebox sheets and the fingers of grate bars; the coal-burning firebox of the time had a life of three

years compared to ten or fifteen years for one in which wood was burned.[13] Yet inventors,

typically, rather than taking the simplest approaches to solving these problems, vied with one

another in producing a gallery of Rube Goldberg contraptions, the guiding principle of which

seemed to be to avoid anything resembling a conventional firebox or boiler – a case of (to quote

Thoreau) "a formula more complicated than the problem itself" or (as George Stephenson aptly put

it) "the danger of too much ingenuity."

An inventor named F. P. Dimpfel had designed and patented a radical new water-tube boiler and

firebox for anthracite coal-burning engines in 1850. So did other hopefuls named O. W. Bayley,

Horace Boardman, Leonard Phleger (who also came up with a patented cinder-catcher that may

have been useful)[14] and one Mr. Gill. A number of engines carrying these boilers were

constructed and tested, but without success.

Dimpfel got his start with stationary boilers as far back as 1839, at which time he invented a

practical hollow stay-bolt for securing the crown sheet in place. Between 1854 and 1860 the

Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company built seven engines with Dimpfel‟s water-tube

boilers, including one in 1855 for the Taunton Branch, which apparently felt experimentally

minded. Dimpfel named his first engine, though perhaps not the one used on the Branch,

Anthracite, in honor of its fuel. In the fire-tube boilers of conventional locomotives, steam was

produced by hot gases from the firebox passing through tubes surrounded by boiler water. Dimpfel

turned the arrangement inside out and built a water-tube affair in which the waist of the boiler

acted as a combustion chamber, the water being heated by flowing through tubes surrounded by

hot firebox gases. His rationale was that the water-tubes, by circulating the boiler water vigorously,

would capture more heat from the slow-burning anthracite.

Water-tubes were not a bad idea; all the parts containing water being cylindrical, no staybolts

were needed to connect the firebox to the boiler shell, besides which the tubular construction could

withstand higher boiler pressures. The water-tube firebox continued for seventy years to be tried in

a minority of steam locomotives, including some massive freight and switching engines built for

the New Haven Railroad in the 1920s, and were common in stationary boilers. But all suffered

from the same defect, mainly leakage where the tubes worked loose from the back and front tube

sheets, a situation exacerbated by wrenching of the parts as the rough-riding engines passed over

switches, rail joints, sharp curves and uneven trackage.

406

Dimpfel in 1857 obtained high-level written backing when William A. Crocker of the Taunton

Locomotive Manufacturing Company endorsed his boiler, which (Crocker said) was “adapted to the use of bituminous or anthracite coal or wood.”[15]

But the high cost of constructing and repairing Dimpfel's water-tube boilers and fireboxes wiped

out any advantages obtained from a saving in fuel. The tubes, which, after descending from the

crown sheet, curved to run horizontally, ending in a cramped water space next to the smokebox,

proved a nightmare to install, and the crown sheet, which ran the length of the boiler, was difficult

to anchor. Unlike the rigidly mounted stationary boilers with which Dimpfel was most familiar, the

inevitable jolting of the engine when in motion caused internal loosening and leakage, and when

that happened the shop mechanics had to remove a forest of tubes to find the defective one. And

although water in southeastern New England is mostly soft, pure and free from lime, though it

contains varying amounts of iron and manganese, dirt and scale still accumulated inside the tubes,

like plaque in the arteries, hindering circulation and insulating the water from the heat.

As if these cranky problems were not enough, Dimpfel's Anthracite proved unable, without a

steam jet in the smokestack, to generate enough draft to keep the coal burning. Besides being a

poor steamer, it was too heavy in proportion to the power it developed – "logy," its engine crews

would have called it – and the only way to get any useful work out of it was to cut down the size of

the cylinders. The Taunton Branch in 1862 sent its Dimpfel back to the locomotive works to be

converted into a conventional engine. Neither was Essex, built to Dimpfel's patent by Taunton in

1856 for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, a howling success, nor were

several others constructed for the same road in and after 1859.[16]

From 1855 to 1857 William Mason and Company of Taunton built ten engines with Horace

Boardman's patented boiler, at least one of which was tested during the latter year on the Boston

and Providence. Boardman, in an attempt to aid combustion by increasing the travel distance of the

hot gases, had come up with another mechanic's nightmare. From the firebox, the gases were led

through a single large flue to a partition midway of the boiler, which deflected them down through

vertical tubes on one side of a squarish sort of cellar that almost scraped the track, then up the

other side and back into the big flue, which conducted them to the smokebox. This lash-up did

have the advantages of removing the tubes from the heat of the firebox and lowering (nearly too

much) the engine's center of gravity. But the 168 crown stays and 80 cross stays were hard to get

at, and the arrangement threw too much weight on the truck wheels.

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The killer was when tests on the Boston and Providence showed that the Boardman engine was

less economical than conventional coal-burning machines equipped with a larger grate that could

be rocked by means of a lever in the cab to open air passages through the coal, and with Griggs's

brick arch (described below). More important than all the complex contrivances designed to

improve combustion, however, was simply educating the shovel-wielding human stoker in efficient

firing techniques![17]

It took that railroad man's railroad man George S. Griggs and a Mansfield locomotive fireman

named Herbert Brown to bring the art of building and operating coal-burning engines from the

realm of wild theory down to practical blue-collar basics. Although New England railroads other

than the Providence and Worcester, suffering from stodgy managements, were slow to convert

from wood to coal, Boston and Providence and its skilled master mechanic proved an exception.

Griggs may not have forgotten but obviously had recovered from the less than sparkling

performance of the three anthracite-burners ordered by Boston and Providence from American

Steam Carriage Company two decades before. In 1856, looking toward saving money by

converting his engines from burning increasingly scarce and costly wood to coal, he installed a

firebrick arch in the fore part of a locomotive firebox. This nearly horizontal structure, which

extended from side to side in the firebox and halfway of its length, in contrast to the inventions just

described was simplicity itself and could be applied to any ordinary locomotive. It deflected the

flames and gases rising from the coal fire, forcing them to the rear, then up and over the arch and

forward to the boiler tubes, lengthening their travel, which consumed the smoke, allowed better

mixing of air and gases and increased the intensity of the heat passing through the tubes. The under

surface of the bricks stored heat transferred from the incandescent fuel below, and this heat was

radiated back to the fire when the fuel bed cooled as fresh coal was shoveled onto it.

Griggs did not invent the brick arch, and at first did not realize the significance of lengthening

the path of the gases – he thought the hot brickwork ignited the air and gases as they passed over it.

But never mind; the arch worked, even though for reasons not understood. It is questionable,

however, whether it brought about any significant fuel savings, but it did cut down on smoke

emitted from the stack, and excessive smoke meant unburned and wasted coal.

Somewhat similar deflectors had been tried before, but the previous sloping shelves, being made

from a single plate of cast iron, even when loaded with bricks were soon destroyed by the fire.

408

Matthew Baird of Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1854 tried a firebrick arch which when applied to

two Pennsylvania Railroad engines proved its worth. But he failed to patent his idea (the same kind

of negligence on the part of Gridley Bryant comes to mind) and it was Griggs who patented the

brick arch which he did not invent. Griggs's advanced form of arch was made from firebricks 24

by 8 by 4 inches in size and proved to be a direct ancestor of the efficient brick arches used in

steam locomotives as long as they were built.

Having made over the firebox, Griggs in 1857 went to work on the locomotive's other end: he

invented an improvement on the bonnet smokestack commonly in use. This was the famous spark-

arresting "diamond" stack, which Griggs was the first man to mount on a locomotive; it too was

intended to enable wood-burning engines to be changed over to coal. It became so popular that

before long it was used throughout the United States and remained practically a standard until the

1880s. The familiar lozenge-shaped outer shell provided space for an interior sheet metal

deflecting cone which, with its point facing downward, broke up and dispersed any fiery particles

of wood, bark or coal that survived the trip through the flues. Griggs obtained patent number

18883 on both his firebrick arch and diamond stack on 15 December 1857.[18]

Again with coal in mind, Griggs designed (though again, apparently, he did not invent) rocking

and dumping grates. These consisted of parallel cast iron bars placed crosswise at the bottom of the

firebox, their purpose being to support the fuel while it burned. The bars had projections or fingers

on each side which dovetailed with the fingers of the adjacent bars. When the fireman rocked the

bars by means of a lever located in the cab the fingers disengaged one another and allowed the hot

ashes to fall through into a metal ash pan which at the terminal could be emptied.

Griggs's experiments proved coal practical as a locomotive fuel in 1857, which was the year

coal-burning engines reappeared in regular service on the Boston and Providence.[19] The use of

coal necessitated, in the late 1850s and into the 1860s, a change from fireboxes, tubes and sheets

made of copper to wrought iron, which stood up better and longer under the more intense heat.[20]

Now we get to Mansfield's innovative Herbert Brown. As was the practice with wood, it had

become customary to allow the coal fire in a locomotive to die each night, after which a new fire

was kindled the following morning by igniting wood atop which coal was then added, a time-

consuming process. Only one more touch was needed. One night in 1857 Brown, an intelligent

fireman who lived in West Mansfield, tried preserving the coal fire overnight by banking it.

For those too young to have grown up in the era of coal-burning household furnaces and stoves,

banking means putting in a layer of green coal and heaping it up along the sides and far end of the

409

firebox so that the fire will have sufficient fuel to burn slowly over a longer period of time. A hot

spot is left in the middle and the grates are not shaken, preserving a heavier than usual layer of ash

at the base which retards combustion by shutting off most of the air from below. This procedure

took an extra half hour when putting the engine to bed, but if done properly was worth the time

spent, whether tending a stove, a household furnace or a locomotive. It also avoided those extreme

changes from cold to hot inside the firebox that tended to loosen the connections of the boiler tubes

to the back tube sheet. Brown's brainstorm worked, and after that the huge wood piles maintained

at important stations along the Boston and Providence began steadily to diminish.[21]

Until all the engines could be converted to the more practical and efficient fuel, however, many

of them went on burning wood, and shiploads of fuel continued to be brought from the railroad's

southern woodlands. It was not until the start of the Civil War in spring of 1861 that access to these

sources was cut off, and then, for a while, local farmers along the Boston and Providence were able

to beef up their incomes by supplying wood fuel to be corded up in piles beside each station, until

their woodlots became deserts of stumps and brush. But this meager prosperity was short-lived, for

the Civil War also proved to be the impetus that eventually led to the burning of coal in all the

engines. Let it not be thought that wood fuel died an easy death, however; some Boston and

Providence locomotives continued to burn wood until 1874 or '75.[22]

Griggs, whose inventive mind never rested, next turned his talents toward an improved

locomotive wheel. Before 1851 he had tried wood-cushioned wheels on passenger cars. Now,

enlarging on this theme, on 29 December 1857, only two weeks after the date of his patent for the

firebrick arch and diamond stack, he took out a patent (number 18966) for a wood-cushioned

locomotive driving wheel. His idea was not just to provide a softer ride but to increase the life of

the metal tires, which under his invention were heated in the shop and shrunk-fit onto hardwood

wedges dovetailed into the wheel rims; these wooden blocks were doused in water to prevent them

from charring. Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company, in which Griggs was a shareholder,

built many engines using his wood-cushioned drive wheels.[23]

Master mechanics normally are extremely busy folks (as those hassled employes who call them

"master maniacs" – behind their backs, of course – will attest), what with maintenance, repairs,

breakdowns, wrecks and other problems without end, and one might wonder where Griggs found

time for all his inventions and experiments. One authority[24] guessed that it was because of the

410

small number of locomotives he had to answer for – he built all told only 27 engines at Roxbury

shops, many of them to the same basic pattern, and never had more than about 30 machines on the

roster at any one time. Just as likely is the possibility that a renewal of the grinding financial

recession in 1857 came to his aid – between 1855 and 1862 Boston and Providence acquired only

four new locomotives, and two of those came from another builder. This hiatus may have given

him time to tinker to his heart's content.

* * *

One would suppose, upon reading the statistics published in early 1857, that everything was

coming up roses for American railroads. The United States had nearly as many miles of railway in

operation as all the rest of the world combined. The small state of Massachusetts ranked seventh in

railroad mileage among the 30 states; Rhode Island could boast more rail mileage than Texas

(which had none) and three times as much as California.

In 1856 Massachusetts alone could boast 1220 miles of single track main line, 128 miles of

branches and 434 miles of double track and sidings. Passenger trains ran up a total of 2,966,711

miles during the year; freight trains, 2,086,348 miles. A total of 11,543,173 passengers paid

$4,804,248 for their fares, while receipts from merchandise came to $4,372,913 and from mail and

other sources $452,757. Net income of Bay State railroads in 1856 was $4,003,404. Expenses

amounted to $1,513,313 for roadbed, $938,793 for motive power and $3,277,487 miscellaneous.

The total receipts per mile run were $1.83; expenses per mile were $1.08; thus the operating ratio

was an enviable 56.2 percent. By January 1857, 3555 miles of railroad had been put into operation

in New England at a cost of $130 million dollars. Most remarkable is that all of this had been

achieved in a period of less than thirty years.[25]

But the rapid expansion of the railroads, seemingly a healthy sign, was in reality a part of a

growing problem. The amount of capital spent in building them exerted a controlling influence in

financial affairs, and speculation had gotten ahead of the rest of the country and certainly out in

front of the financial means of the community in general. The result was an undue reliance on

financiering and temporary methods of raising funds, the embarrassments from which were so

great as to give a serious check to communication and transportation progress. In particular, over-

411

speculation compromised the integrity of certain conspicuous railroad managements, so that rail

securities generally suffered materially in the appreciation of the financial public.

Not only the railroads had over-expanded; so had industry in general and the money supply and

credit. Notes were dishonored and stock and bond prices collapsed. Affairs were bad by summer of

1857, and when Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company on 24 August suspended payment and

shortly after went bankrupt because of speculation in overextended midwestern railroads and

manufacturing enterprises, businesses in the east collapsed in a chain reaction. Mills and Company,

with its heavy Taunton interests, failed 17 September, the partners losing all their property. All this

led to what was called "Black Friday," which fell, incongruously, in the midst a ten-day spell of

"golden autumn" weather, on 13 October.

Both Taunton and Mason locomotive works, stuck with big inventories and partly-constructed

engines that nobody now wanted, staggered; Mason on 6 November filed as legally insolvent and

the company was put under trusteeship 10 December, while Taunton Locomotive escaped

bankruptcy by the skin of its teeth. Mason managed a partial recovery, but the locomotive business

of both works did not get back to normal for another six or seven years.

Shock waves of this financial crisis, which originated in the United States, spread like an

epidemic throughout the world, the first of its kind in history. Europe, which since the Crimean

War had been surfing on a high wave, plunged into a deep trough of panic. As World War II would

bail the United States out of the depression of the 1930s, it took the Civil War to get many

American businesses prostrated by the Panic of 1857 back on their feet.[26]

As if depression was not dismal enough, Old Man Winter laid a heavy hand on Boston and

Providence Rail Road operations. One snowfall in the winter of 1857-58, which began on a

Tuesday (I've been unable to determine the exact date), was so deep "Mansfield people rode over

their own picket fences and didn't know it." Two trains became stuck in the snow in the cut at

Gilbert Street bridge down in the southwest corner of Mansfield, a mile south of Tobit's depot.

Word quickly got around among the country folks, and Mrs. Sarah Sweet cooked a whole ham and

fried a bushel of doughnuts for the marooned passengers; her husband and some other men took

them to the trains. Though they had only a short way to go across the fields they were gone so long

Mrs. Sweet feared they too were stuck, but eventually they made their way back. Tobit's station

agent John Bayley lived less than a half mile from the depot but was unable to get home and spent

at least one night in the small station, where because of the northwest wind it was almost as biting

cold inside as it was outdoors.

As soon as the snow let up, "little Royal Beals went down" with three locomotives to rescue the

412

stalled trains, and before he could reach them all three engines broke down. For at least one whole

day, no trains moved in or out of Mansfield[27]

* * *

The cross-country end-to-end patchwork of railroads known as the "air line" continued to

wallow through 1857 and into 1858 in its normal confusing manner, taking and shedding more

names than a fugitive bank robber has aliases. On 2 March 1857 the East Thompson Railroad

Company took possession under lease of the property of Boston and New York Central; while on

the same day the operation by Boston and Providence of the Norfolk County Railroad ended and

was turned over to the East Thompson company, which began running Norfolk County trains

under a contract with the trustees.

But on 17 March 1858 the East Thompson Railroad Company, after two weeks more than a

year, ceased operation of Boston and New York Central through its entire length from Boston to

Mechanicville (Putnam) and its affairs were closed up. On the same day the trustees of the Norfolk

County road again took possession of the line from Dedham to Blackstone. And on 19 March,

Midland Railroad Company number two was chartered with authority to take over the property of

the insolvent Boston and New York Central, which for four years had "earned little but deficits;"

this new company with an old name was organized 31 March. Midland acquired the deed of

Boston and New York Central on 1 November 1858. Also after 17 March 1858 the Midland

Railroad abandoned for eight years operations over their trackage from Boston to Readville, not to

be used again until 3 April 1866. The Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad, which had been

running trains in and out of Providence's Union Station, "in spite of its hopes and ambitions" fell

into the hands of receivers in 1858 and did not surface from receivership for two decades.[28]

* * *

Boston and Providence acquired no new engines in 1856 and 1857, although in the former year

they sold an older machine: Dedham, one of the 2-2-2 tank engines built by Griggs in 1851, went

to the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad, which renamed it Uncle Tom, after a character in Louisa

May Alcott‟s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom‟s Cabin which had taken the country by storm. In 1858

the railroad put one new engine into service. This was Roxbury, the second of that name, given the

number 15, a 4-4-0 built by Griggs in Roxbury shop, with 15-1/2 by 20-inch cylinders and 60-inch

drivers. This second Roxbury lasted into the Old Colony Railroad era, when it was renumbered 168

and scrapped in 1889.[29]

Obviously, when this latest engine was turned out, the original Roxbury, built in 1851, had been

retired after a rather short career and sold to the Watertown & Rome (Rome, Watertown &

413

Ogdenburg RR).

The latest business recession did have its good side. It gave George Griggs and his shop men

time, as we have noted, to fiddle with locomotive improvements. And it also allowed him and the

Boston and Providence brass collars sufficient leisure to think about bringing their small motive

power fleet further up to snuff by giving the engines road numbers, which would be painted on

their cabs and sometimes their tenders and domes.

The oldest operating Boston and Providence locomotive to be assigned a number was Norfolk,

built by Griggs in 1845; it was numbered 1. The last engine newly purchased by the railroad but

not assigned a number was the ill-fated George S. Griggs, built (or rebuilt) in 1855, so it seems

logical that numbering did not begin until or after that year. It is unfortunate that because of the

financial recession no locomotives were built for Boston and Providence between 1855 and 1858,

for numbering appears to have begun during that period and if engines had been purchased we

might know exactly when the first numbers were assigned. In my opinion, 1858 is the most likely

and certainly the last year when numbering could have commenced.

Thanks to this numbering, and assuming that engines not numbered were no longer in service (a

list of eight of these derelicts is given below), 1858 becomes the first year since the 1830s when a

reasonably firm roster of Boston and Providence power can be compiled. Following is my list of

locomotives at the end of 1858, after the initial numbering:

No. Name Builder Date built

1 Norfolk Griggs 1845

2 2nd Massachusetts Griggs 1846

3 Iron Horse (Hyde Park) Griggs 1848

4 Rhode Island Griggs 1848

5 2nd Providence Taunton 1849

6 2nd Neponset Griggs 1849

7 Highlander Griggs 1850

8 W. R. Lee Griggs 1853

9 Washington Griggs 1854

10 2nd New York Griggs 1854

11 Mansfield Taunton 1854 (1855)

12 Attleboro (ex-King Philip) Griggs 1855[30]

414

But now in 1858 and 1859 we stumble over an anomaly:

13 Foxboro (ex-Ariel) Locks & Canals 1859

14 Sharon Locks & Canals 1859

15 2nd Roxbury Griggs 1858

The obvious question is: When locomotives 1 through 14 are numbered in order of their age,

why is 15, second Roxbury, out of chronological sequence? My hypothesis is that Foxboro and

Sharon had been ordered in 1858 from Locks and Canals and the numbers 13 and 14 set aside for

them. Griggs then began building second Roxbury which he logically numbered 15, expecting the

other two would be delivered before it was completed; however they did not arrive until the

following year. I must admit I have no evidence for this. Incidentally, the fact that Foxboro was

renamed from Ariel suggests it was built for some other railroad.

In addition to these, still another locomotive, to be named Daniel Nason and numbered 17, was

under construction in Roxbury shop. A plate on its steam dome bore the date "September

1858;"[31] yet so slow was the work (perhaps Griggs had laid off some of his mechanics during

the "Panic") that apparently the engine did not get into actual service until 1863!

Following is a list of Boston and Providence locomotives not numbered but apparently still on

the inactive roster in 1858-1859:

Name Builder Date built End service Disposal

1st Boston Bury 1835 By 1858 Sold Sept. 1863

Suffolk Griggs 1846 By 1858 Sold 1868

Bristol Griggs 1846 By 1858 Sold 1869

Blackstone Griggs 1847 By 1858? Sold by 1858?

Taghonic Griggs 1848 By 1858 Sold 1877

Narragansett Griggs 1848 By 1858 Sold 1878

2nd Canton Griggs 1849 By 1858 Sold 1867

George S. Griggs Amoskeag 1855 1855 Exploded, rebuilt,

renamed King Philip Griggs 1855 By 1869 ------

415

The fact that these eight engines received no numbers by 1858 but were sold (seven of

them[32]) at later dates suggests they were not in active service during that period (up to 20 years

in some cases!) but were stored unserviceable on the property or possibly used in limited cases for

stationary steam plants. Is this the broken-crank brigade? – in 1852 a total of 11 Boston and

Providence engines were bedridden with broken cranks![33]

Still another question, which has been explored earlier, is: Why was not the rebuilt George S.

Griggs (renamed King Philip) assigned a number? Was it never returned to active service? Did it

prove so unsatisfactory or unpopular that it was scrapped before numbers were assigned?

It appears from these lists that at the end of 1859 Boston and Providence owned 22 engines,

seven of which were out of service! In addition, the derelict Lincoln, first Boston and first

Neponset, all to be sold in 1863, continued to collect rust.

Another way in which Boston and Providence kept George Griggs and the Roxbury shop busy

during this recession was by rebuilding locomotives of other railroads. Some time between 1857

and 1859 the financially strapped Norfolk County Railroad Company, whose line between Dedham

and Blackstone was taken into the possession of the mortgage trustees 17 March 1858 [34] for the

second time in two years, sent two of its engines, number 27, Walpole, and number 29, Franklin, to

Roxbury to be rebuilt. Both machines were of the 4-4-0 type with 60-inch drivers and had been

turned out by Taunton locomotive works in 1848 and 1849.[35]

416

NOTES

1. Isaac Stearns letter to Polly and Susanna Stearns 16 May 1857 in Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 883. Thoreau writes

nothing of this "tempest," which must have been a relatively localized storm.

2. Belcher 1938: no. 7.

3. Similarly, in the 1970s a sudden jump in the price of diesel oil caused many major railroads to at least think of

converting to electric traction. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

4. The Mansfield News of 27 Oct. 1876, telling of a Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg locomotive, reads: "The engine

Northboro' has lately been changed from a wood to a coal burner, and on her trial trip Engineer Fitts made the run

from South Framingham to Fitchburg with the mid-day passenger train, a distance of 37 miles, and including nine

stops, in 59 minutes." Northboro, BC&F engine number 6, was an 1866 product of Taunton Locomotive Mfg Co.

5. A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002.

6. Botkin and Harlow 1953: 469.

7. This was no trivial industry. In Mansfield alone, 56,000 baskets worth $13,560 were manufactured in the year

1855 (Copeland 1936-56: 92-3) and presumably many of these were shipped out by rail.

8. H. S. Russell 1982: 228.

9. White 1968-79:78, 84, 85. See White's excellent chapter on fuel beginning in op. cit. page 83. Colburn reported

in 1857 that railroads in Mass. were paying an average of 20 cents per mile for wood fuel (in White 1968-79: 78).

10. Copeland 1936-56: 64; Harlow 1946: 354; White 1979: 84, 84n.

11. Appleton 1871: 3.

12. Lewis 1973: 20. Providence & Worcester was the first railroad in the U. S. to burn coal in its locomotives as a

regular practice. By 1867 most U. S. roads either had converted their engines to coal or were seriously thinking of

doing so. Boston & Worcester in that year owned 30 engines that burned coal and nine woodburners plus one

omnivorous unit that was not particular to either diet. The coal-fired engines ran from 41.8 to 100.3 miles per ton

consumed, costing in fuel 9.5 to 21.9 cents per mile, the best mileage and lowest cost being racked up by a yard

switcher, while the woodburners got 30.8 to 50.8 miles per cord. Taunton locomotive builder William Mason turned

out his first coal-burner, this one slated for B&W, in 1856 (Harlow 1946: 354, 354n). The New-York, Providence &

Boston (“Stonington”) obtained its first coal burner in 1859, and before long learned that steam engines which had

been burning wood at a cost of 15 cents per mile could be run on coal for 11 cents per mile (Turner and Jacobus 1986:

6).

13. Lozier 1986: 448-9.

14. Phleger‟s firebox was tested on the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1854, apparently without much success.

15. W. Crocker 1857.

16. Hist. of Baldwin Loco. Wks. 1923: 58-9 in Westing 1966: 42-3; White 1968-79: 88, 93, 102, 105; Lozier

1978-86: 449-51.

17. White 1968-79: 105; Lozier 1978-86: 45.

18. Hist. of Baldwin Loco. Wks 1923: 56-7 in Westing 1966: 41-2; C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 79-80; White 1968-79:

88, 107 (a drawing of Griggs's patents), 108, 120, 449; Westwood 1977-78: 216.

19. Copeland 1936-56: 65; Belcher 1938: no. 7; Westwood 1977-78: 216. Levitt (pers. comm. 2002) asks whether

"practical" as used by Copeland infers "cost-effective practicality" rather than "combustion practicality." I suspect the

417

answer may be: Both.

20. Lozier 1986: 460.

21. Copeland 1936-56: 65.

22. White 1968-79: 88.

23. White 1968-79: 178; Lozier 1978-86: 457.

24. Westwood (1977-78: 216

25. American Railway Times c1857 and Dinsmore c1857 in OFA 1858: 42, q. v. for more statistics.

26 . Lozier 1978-86: 489, 512-20. Many midwestern roads failed in the month following Black Friday, and

locomotive builders struggled to collect what the railway companies owed them for new engines (ibid.: 327-8).

27. Copeland 1933a, 1933b. Miss Copeland does not explain and I do not know who "little Royal Beals" was;

probably an intrepid locomotive engineer stationed at Mansfield. I can find no reference to such a deep snow in

Thoreau's Journal in 1857-58, which in Concord at least was a moderate winter. Did Miss Copeland have the date

wrong?

28. C. Fisher 1939: 69, 70; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 24, 25; A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 2002.

29. C. Fisher 1938b: 91, 1939: 82; Edson 1981: xvii.

30. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

31. White 1968-79: 178; 1981: 37-8. Railfan & Railroad Jan. 2000: 4, in what the magazine describes as a "partial

list of pioneer locomotives from the 1800s which have been preserved," gives the date 1858 for Daniel Nason, ranking

it 20th on the chronological list of known preserved engines in the U. S.

32. Blackstone continues to be a question. As mentioned earlier, this engine was sold to the Springfield

Locomotive Works, who resold it to the Emily Dickinson‟s favorite Amherst, Belchertown & Palmer R. R. That railroad renamed it Amherst (C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii). It probably was gone from Boston & Providence

by 1858.

33. Amer. R. R. Journal 29 Oct. 1853: 700 in White 1968-79: 208.

34. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 25.

35. C. Fisher 1939: 71; Edson xvii. Walpole became Boston, Hartford & Erie No. 15 and was rebuilt again by the

Hinkley Works in 1873. Franklin became BH&E No. 14 and was rebuilt by George A. Haggerty of Southbridge, Mass.

Walpole was sold in 1872 to Broad & Ward, Contractors, and Franklin was sold in 1875 to the Cincinnati, Rockport &

Southwestern R. R.

418

25 – Through rail service to New York begins – almost!

"Finished grafting apple trees for James Green [sic]. Amount, 41 stock – 82 cents." So wrote

Mansfield‟s own “Capability Brown,” the versatile Isaac Stearns, of the local station agent's

orchard, in his diary on the warm, still, pleasant spring day of 1 May 1858.[1]

Jim Greene – he who ten years before had sold a ticket to Congressman Abraham Lincoln in that

very depot – would live to see his apple trees bloomed pink and white like spring brides only once

more. In fall of 1859, when he was not quite 53, he took to his bed upstairs in the passenger station

with dreaded typhoid fever. Whether the depot drinking water well was polluted I do not know, but

it seems a possibility. He died, leaving an 11-year-old son, on 16 October, a year too soon to see a

big new brick depot erected.[2] The illness had necessitated his retirement, and on his death-bed

he asked that the corporation appoint 30-year-old Frederick Paine, the former wood sawyer and the

son of Mansfield baggage master Nelson Paine, agent in his place. The request was granted.

Fred had married about 1856, and now he and his wife set up housekeeping upstairs in the

depot. It may have been then, to lend even added dignity to his new post, that the short, stocky man

began wearing the tall silk hat and frock coat that became a part of his regalia for as long as he

lived. He had charge of the old station for four years, then moved to the new brick depot, over

which he presided for many more.[3]

Less than three miles south of Mansfield, at Tobit's, the station agent was John Bayley. His job,

which had begun in 1855 when he replaced Captain William Beard, brought him $25 a month. He

deserved more, because it was he, with some help, who put West Mansfield on the railroad map.

Around 1860 two girls, his nieces, visiting the nearby Bayley home asked their uncle, "What part

of Mansfield is this?" When he told them it was the west part, they exercised their artistic bent and

made him a large cardboard sign bearing the words "West Mansfield" which they then nailed to the

station building. The corporation, bowing to irrefutable feminine logic, accepted the new name

with grace and before long replaced the home-made sign with a permanent one made of wood. It

was only a short while before the name "West Mansfield" replaced the misspelled "Tobey's"

previously printed on tickets and timetables.[4]

* * *

419

Meanwhile, a much bigger matter was afoot – the establishment of an almost through rail shore

line connection between Boston and New York. The pressure to get intercity rail passenger service

up and running was so great that railroad builders couldn't wait for the necessary bridges to be

thrown across major intervening rivers. The New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad

Company, a union (as has been said) of the New London and Stonington and the New Haven and

New London railroads, in January 1858 opened the 13-mile section between Groton and

Stonington, using a ferryboat to carry its cars across the broad Thames River between New London

and Groton; and on 30 December of that year completed and opened the link from New London to

New Haven, where they tied in with the New York and New Haven Railroad.

By itself, the New Haven, New London and Stonington proved financially wobbly. But on the

same day it opened, by prior arrangement the line was leased by the New-York, Providence and

Boston ("Stonington") Railroad which immediately commenced operating the road,[5] so that at

11:10 a. m. the first train from Boston to New York pulled out of Boston's Pleasant Street

station.[6]

To be honest about it, there were still two unbridged gaps in the rail route, one across New

London harbor at the Thames (locally pronounced to rhyme with "James"), the other at the wider

Connecticut River. At these two points the cars were tediously shunted (or "banged," as Dickens

was to say) aboard large ferries and on the opposite shores the train was reassembled to continue

its journey. But it now was a fact that one could travel without disembarking from the coaches over

the entire length of what eventually was to become the New Haven Railroad's famed Shore Line

between Boston and Manhattan, a significant advance both in convenience and time over the

former rail-steamboat connections that were thought so luxurious.

Yet despite this for-all-practical-purposes through rail service, the several roads involved (which

could have but evidently did not take a lesson from the joint train schedules of Boston and

Providence and the Stonington road) failed until about 1863 to arrange their timetables in a way

that would permit conveniently time-coordinated travel between the two major cities, and even as

late as 1868 did not adequately publicize the service.[7]

There were still those who, perhaps because of the unhandy scheduling or just as likely out of

parsimony, preferred the former method of Boston-New York travel, as proven by an entry in Isaac

Stearns's diary dated 18 January 1860. Stearns had decided to make a trip to Washington, D. C., we

420

don‟t know why, and on that overcast but unseasonably mild evening he "took the Steam Boat Train of cars at Mansfield for Stonington, Connecticut, paid 60 cents fare for myself and 30 cents

for Frederic W. Stearns, my grandson; total 90 cents. Arrived at Stonington at 9-1/2 P. M., then

took the Steamboat Commonwealth for New York in the steerage passage . . . ." The pair arrived at

New York at 9 the next morning[8] and from there went on to the nation‟s capital. Stearns may have preferred the old rail-water way because the cheaper second class rail tickets

were not done away with until about 1860. One might guess that until that time the Boston and

Providence and the Stonington roads had adapted their class system to suit that of the connecting

steamboats; and now that they connected with railroads which perhaps did not use second class

fares they soon switched to this latest classless ticketing arrangement.

The class separation in vogue on Boston and Providence had been getting a bit loose, anyway.

Those who bought first class train tickets of course expected better accommodations. In the earlier

days, most passengers preferred first class. But now more passengers opted for the cheaper mode

of travel,[9] and this often meant that the second class cars on a train were filled, in which case the

conductor would permit second class ticket holders to overflow to seats in first class if any there

were. This custom alone must have caused complaints from those who had paid more for the same

accommodations, and probably led railroad officials to realize that it would be more practical to

abolish class distinctions altogether.

To further muddy the waters, there was the matter of passes – more and more of them. Any

employe of the railroad on his day off could ride free and besides could take his wife and his or her

friends along as well. How lax things got depended on the conductor. One particularly lenient

skipper would throw open the end door of the baggage car, which was packed with men, and call

out, "All trainmen?" "Yes," would come the predictable reply from somewhere in the crowd; at

which the genial conductor would answer, "All right," and return to the passenger coaches. This

same crowd of freeloaders, on their return trip, somehow always managed to come back with the

same obliging conductor, who managed to cost his employer a lot of passenger fares.[10]

Having heard complaints from their stockholders that there seemed to be no end of issuing free

passes, the Boston and Providence management, frustrated and annoyed at the increasing number

of deadheads occupying seats aboard their trains, noted in a report, "The unfortunate stockholder,

who receives no dividends, is generally made to pay for his ticket when travelling on his own

road."[11] The situation grew so bad that in 1876 the managers of several New England railroads

in public meeting proposed eliminating passes altogether, bringing howls of protest from the free-

traveling newspapermen who reported the gathering, but whether this plan was put into effect I

421

know not.

To aid in handling the ever-increasing volume of paying and non-paying rail traffic, including

the new through trains, the Boston and Providence in 1859 began double-tracking their main line

for 8-1/2 miles between Sharon and Readville and completed the work in 1860. This left the 14

miles of road from Mansfield through West Mansfield, Attleborough, Dodgeville, Hebronville and

East Junction to West Junction (Boston Switch) as the only single-tracked part of the main line.

The last of the old rails made after the design of W. Raymond Lee were taken up in 1860.[12]

Canton viaduct was included in the double-tracking, and here it was that the foresight of its

builder William Gibbs McNeill showed itself as the great stone bridge was subjected to its first

major face-lift since its completion in 1835. The work was accomplished with relative ease. Until

now the single track had been centered on the ballasted crown of the bridge. The side parapets and

ballast were removed and heavy oaken timbers fastened across the deck, overhanging it on either

side. The two tracks were laid on these timbers with the outboard rails almost if not directly above

the granite side walls. There were fears that vibration from the new track arrangement might

loosen the mortar joints in the walls, but such did not happen, at least not then.[13] Hard pine

timbers running the length of the bridge were bolted down to serve as guard rails to hold the

wheels to a straight course in the event of a derailment – they remained in place until 1888 – and a

heavy wooden fence was added outside these as a further safeguard.

During this renovation work the massive stone block bearing the names of the 1835 Boston and

Providence directors was thoughtlessly dumped overboard, breaking in several pieces when it hit

the ground; though later it was recovered, fastened together and restored to a spot at the north end

of the viaduct, where it remained until fairly recently.[14]

At about this same time a new depot called Green Lodge was opened not far away near the site

of the present Route 128 station.[15]

In 1860 the operating pact by which the Boston and Providence Corporation ran the Providence,

Warren and Bristol Railroad ended. The smaller railroad got along independently until 1873, when

it was wholly taken over by Boston and Providence. In 1891 it was leased by Old Colony and later

was electrified, with passenger service provided by street railway type equipment.[16]

At the close of 1860, 1221 miles of railroad were in operation in Massachusetts, and the

extensions into adjoining states, with their branches, operated by the same corporations, added

422

another 527 miles – in only two cases were these companies operating without Massachusetts

charters.[17]

* * *

The fact that from 1858 to 1860 Boston and Providence acquired only four new locomotives,

one of which had been a long time in the building, would almost suggest that there was no great

increase in traffic during that time, except for the fact that double track had been added, one

supposes to accommodate additional trains. It may be that the railroad was already overstocked

with usable engines, though that does not seem to be the case either.

I have already mentioned second Roxbury, number 15, constructed in 1858, and Foxboro (ex-

Ariel) and Sharon, numbers 13 and 14, both built by Locks and Canals (construction numbers 133

and 140) in 1859. The latter two machines appear to have been twins; they were 4-4-0 types with

66-inch drive wheels and 14- by 20-inch cylinders. Foxboro was scrapped in 1880, Sharon in

1881.

The fourth new locomotive, number 16, Dedham, the third Boston and Providence engine to

carry that name, was a George Griggs product having 16- by 20-inch cylinders and 66-inch drive

wheels and weighing 46,500 pounds. This engine survived until after Boston and Providence was

taken over by Old Colony Railroad (which renumbered it 168) and from Old Colony went in turn

to the New Haven Railroad, which scrapped the engine after a lengthy career in 1899.[18] A photo

taken in 1886 shows it to have been a typical Griggs inside-cylinder job with leading wheels so

close together their rims nearly touched, a diamond stack and a very large octagonal steam dome

mounted (in reverse of the order that was to become customary) ahead of the sand box. Dedham

was the last engine placed in service by Boston and Providence until 1863, halfway through the

Civil War, although the one locomotive put on the rails that year, Daniel Nason, number 17, had

been a-building in Roxbury shop since 1858 – we shall hear more about this machine later.

At the end of 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, Boston and Providence appears to have had the

following 15 or 16 locomotives in active service:

No. 1-Norfolk (questionable), 2-second Massachusetts, 3-Iron Horse (Hyde Park), 4-Rhode

Island, 5-second Providence, 6-second Neponset, 7-Highlander, 8-W. R. Lee, 9-Washington, 10-

second New York, 11-Mansfield, 12-Attleboro (ex-King Philip), 13-Foxboro (ex-Ariel), 14-Sharon,

15-second Roxbury and 16-third Dedham. Of these, all were 4-4-0 types except No. 7, Highlander,

which was an oddball (for Boston and Providence) 0-6-0.

423

Presumed to exist but out of service and unnumbered (eight engines): Lincoln, first Boston,

Suffolk, first Neponset, Bristol, Taghonic, Narragansett and second Canton. One can imagine them

standing nose to tail in an elephant graveyard behind the shops.

The claim was made that by 1860 Boston and Providence locomotives were almost all coal-

burners. This was untrue, for even the railroad's own annual reports admit that engines burning

wood remained in service for another 14 or 15 years.[19] It is possible, of course, that the wood-

burners were held in reserve as extra engines and that most trains were handled by those new or

improved machines that used coal. The price of wood was now $5.41 per cord, well up from the

$3.50 of five years before but still cheaper than the $7.00 paid in 1838. There is no question that

coal-burning locomotives were operating on Boston and Providence before the start of the Civil

War.[20]

Griggs put his wood cushioned drive wheels to the test, and reported in January 1861 that

engines equipped with his invention had averaged 35,208 miles in 1860 before their tires required

turning in Roxbury shop, while those with conventional wheels averaged only 20,774 miles. This

marked improvement led other railroads to adopt Griggs's cushioned wheel.[21]

Eminent railway historians are somewhat divided on the value and importance of George S.

Griggs's contributions to American locomotive design. Though Griggs had made an indelible mark

as an ingenious improver of locomotive details, he was somewhat of a stick-in-the-mud when it

came to overall design. Like Whistler at Locks and Canals, he kept building the same tried and true

model over and over, even after the passage of time had rendered it obsolescent. His standard

Norfolk types, modern in 1845 with their British-style inside cylinders and cranks (long given up

by other United States roads), close-together truck wheels and D-shaped Stephenson-type smoke

boxes, by 1860 looked like antiques, yet he refused to deviate from the design. Thanks to his

perfectionist attitude toward maintenance and repair, his small fleet of engines served Boston and

Providence, with its short runs, well, and continued in everyday use as late as the 1870s. Imitation

being the sincerest form of flattery, it is true that Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company

and Hinkley and Drury Locomotive Company in Boston copied his designs, but since Griggs was a

benefactor of and stockholder in the Taunton works this should not be surprising.[22]

The Taunton Branch took delivery about 1858 of an inside-connected engine built by Taunton

Locomotive Manufacturing Company for the Boston and Lowell and named Jupiter, but handed

over instead to the Taunton road and renamed Triumph. This engine had 14- by 20-inch cylinders

and 66-inch driving wheels.[23]

424

* * *

Abraham Lincoln revisited New England early in 1860 when stumping for the Republican party

and his presidency. Following a successful address at Cooper Union in New York, he came to

Providence and on 28 February (a mild day on which robins and bluebirds were spotted in outlying

towns) spoke before a very large gathering in Railroad Hall on the second floor of Union Station.

The Providence Journal reported that "Mr. Lincoln began by alluding good naturedly, to some

remarks of the Press and Post which he had read on his way thither in the cars," probably on the

Stonington railway. He visited 10 New England towns and cities; on 8 March he addressed a Whig

Party rally of 1500 persons in Harris Hall, Woonsocket, Rhode Island. [24]

* * *

Now back to Mansfield, that early junction point. Boston and Providence had decided it was

high time for that town to have a more commodious and imposing station. In 1860 the frame Greek

Revival "passenger house," built in 1836, which briefly had played host to Mr. Lincoln in 1848,

was sold to Alson Briggs, who dragged it three-quarters of a mile southward over the roads by

teams of horses or oxen to its present Mansfield address at 136 West Street, across the road from

the house of his father-in-law the distinguished Mansfield attorney David Gilbert and nearly

opposite the end of Central Street, where it still stands as a private home.[25] Originally the land

onto which the station was moved was the estate of Mansfield's second minister, the Reverend Mr.

Roland Green, the grandfather (despite the slight spelling variation) of station agent James Greene.

At first the house was surrounded by a white fence and had a fair-sized apple orchard. Two ells

and a porch have been added to the dwelling, the center section of which is the original depot, and

its two apartments have had many occupants since it was moved to the site in 1860. William

Gaffney, a tall man whose straw hat (as I recall from my youth) nearly scraped the ceiling of his

butcher shop near the center of town, bought the place from the Wilbur family in 1911, and the

Gaffneys lived there at least until the late 1940s. A present resident and owner, Mrs. Ellen Frank, is

a Gaffney granddaughter.

The new Mansfield depot was much larger and of altogether different construction, though (it

must be said, station design having passed from Greek through Roman to a rather ugly phase) not

as handsome. Despite the row of dentils below the eaves it was a plain two-story box built of red

brick -- of the “Early Comatose order,” as Ambrose Bierce called such an uninspired building, designed, he theorized, by an architect averse to publicity -- much later painted by the New Haven

Railroad in its standard cream color with dull brown trim, which is the way I recall it as a boy, 64

by 36 feet in size and 28 feet to the flat roof, from which sprouted five brick chimneys (probably

425

four originally; the fifth may have been added years afterward when the building acquired central

heat). A wide arched door under an arched wooden porte cochere, which was torn down later when

the adjacent express office was built, opened on the south side, facing the present Chauncy Street,

and a narrower door on the west side gave access to the Boston and Providence main line tracks,

but for some reason there was no door on the Taunton Branch side – this incomprehensible

oversight was rectified later

The first floor contained, among other amenities, a large waiting room for women and children

and another for men and older boys. Station agent Fred Paine, whose job it was to sell tickets,

provide travel information and handle complaints or compliments, along with his family made his

home on the depot's second floor, the windows of which sported blinds and even curtains. The

plank platforms were illuminated at night by large lanterns bracketed to the four corners of the

building; in the beginning they probably burned whale or lard oil.[26]

Whether the new station proved insufficiently spacious or an addition had been contemplated

from the beginning is not clear, but some time before 1871 a large one-story frame addition was

built on the north side of the brick part[27] . This mismatched structure was 95 feet long, and to fit

in the junction of the two railroad lines had to be roughly triangular in shape – a sort of "flatiron

building" --, 60 feet wide where it joined the brick structure, tapering to only 13 feet at the north

end. A clerestory in the roof provided light to the far interior, and doors opened on both the

Providence and Taunton sides. This gave Mansfield a sizable if not (to our eyes) particularly

attractive-looking depot about 130 feet in overall length, which lasted until 1952, when having

become a shabby and oversized eyesore it was demolished in favor of, first, the former express

office which stood immediately south of the brick depot and was used until 1956 as a station, and

then the "temporary" red frame shed that until it was replaced in 2003 served Mansfield's 1800

daily commuters as a passenger depot.[28]

When I was young, the wooden addition contained the main and only waiting room. (Among

other facilities, the men‟s room was in the mysterious brick part.) Bracketed to the walls was a continuous bare wooden bench punctuated by iron armrests, designed, one might think, by a

descendant of those sadists whose duty it had been in Puritan New England to make church pews

as uncomfortable as possible to keep the worshippers from snoozing. All waiting room seats were

hard on the traveler's fundament. But those in Mansfield depot quite bore away the palm in that

respect.

In the north end of the station, reached by a dingy corridor along the west side of the building,

was the telegraph office, in charge of Edward Paine, a younger brother of Fred Paine. In those days

426

a boy did not go to telegraphy school (if such an institution existed) to learn the skill of sending

and receiving. Usually he hung around the telegraph office under the excuse of running errands for

the telegrapher or agent, listening to the rapid-fire clacking of the sounder (its staccato output

augmented sometimes by an empty tobacco can placed behind the instrument) until his ears and

brain by osmosis picked up the Morse Code. Ed Paine took the position of telegrapher about 1860

when he was 18. He had suffered an unhappy start with the railroad; at the age of 13, while selling

papers at the depot, in getting on or off a train he got a foot wedged in the track and lost it under

the wheels. [29]

The part of this new Mansfield station that made the most lasting impression on the traveling

and commuting public was the excellent restaurant, which had earned a top-notch reputation.

Situated in the northern frame part of the busy depot and accommodating 40 patrons, this eatery

proved especially popular with those who had to wait while changing trains between the Boston

and Providence and the Taunton and New Bedford lines. Fred Paine, in addition to his official

duties, was in charge of the restaurant, helped by his brother Ed when he could tear himself away

from the demands of the telegraph. Meats and delicious squash pies were home-cooked in the

Paine kitchen upstairs in the depot by Fred's wife, while an Irish "hired girl," Mrs. Bagg (or Bragg,

another account has it), baked the mouth-watering beans. Large, luscious doughnuts made by Mrs.

Paine's sister Miss Sarah Day sold for five cents each. Excellent home-made food was available for

"take-out" sale, too, and it was not unusual for a hurried commuter to grab a pie as he passed

through the depot. There was a counter for food; Miss Copeland remarks, "How the apples on the

shelf did shine. No wonder, for the man in charge took great pride in them."[30]

* * *

The Little Ice Age was not yet finished with Massachusetts as the spring of the fateful year of

1861, which also was the first year of the Civil War and the last year of Henry Thoreau's too-short

life, was ushered in by a "driving north-east snow-storm" which in Concord resulted in drifts "high

over the fences and the trains stopped. The Boston train due at 8.30 A. M. did not reach here till

five this afternoon."[31]

A new corporate player in the air line scheme was allowed on stage 9 April 1861 when the

Massachusetts legislature chartered the significantly-titled Midland Land Damage Company[32] in

the names of the owners of real estate occupied by the Midland Railroad of 1858. This company

was organized on 7 July.[33] By that date, the Civil War, which those perennial optimistic souls

who always envision short wars predicted would be over in three months, had been raging for

almost that long with no end in sight, not even the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" which

427

sometimes turns out to be the headlight of an oncoming express train.

NOTES

1. Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 884.

2. Copeland 1936-56: 64. James Greene's daughter, Ann Amanda, 15 years old, followed him in death by five

days, perhaps from the same illness. Another son had died 11 years before at the age of two years and a day. His wife

Elizabeth outlived him by 35 years. Isaac Stearns's sister Sally Stearns mentions Greene' death in her diary of 6

October (Buck c1980: v.3, p. 883e). Greene and 12 members of his rather short-lived family are buried in a single plot

in Spring Brook cemetery, Mansfield, presided over by a tall monument lettered, "On Earth the Cross, In Heaven the

Crown."

3. Copeland 1931b, 1931c, 1936-56: 65; 26 Jan. 1951. She writes that "All those who now recall [Fred Paine]

remember him in no other head gear."

4. Copeland 1931e, 1936-56: 68. How the Tobit family felt about this name change (or about the previous

misspelling!) I do not know. John T. Tobit for whom the station originally was named lived until 1885.

5. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 24, 25.

6. C. Fisher 1937: 60 and Barrett 1996: 90 say the first through train over the Shore Line without change of cars

ran 12 Dec. 1859.

7. NYNH&H Dec. 1926 in Hall and Wuchert 1986: v. 3, p. 83; Belcher 1938: no. 7; NYNH&H Aug. 1943: 3;

Cartwright, NHRHTA summer 1976: 4; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29; Turner and Jacobus 1986: 10-13.

8. Buck c1980: v. 3, p. 896. Stearns heads this entry "My journey to Washington, D. C."

9. As I have heretofore noted, some contemporary observers report that most passengers formerly preferred first

class despite the added expense.

10. Copeland 1931d, 1936-56: 65-66; Carnevali 1949.

11. Issuance of passes by Boston & Providence began early. A letter written in Boston 15 Dec. 1836 by railroad

president W. W. Woolsey to superintendent W. Raymond Lee directs that “Following to be placed on Free List of Travellers, over the B. & P. R. Way: W. A. Crocker, Joel Blaisdell, H. B. Dearth – in the employ of the Taunton Branch

Rail Road Co.” (Courtesy of A. M. Levitt 2006.) Crocker was agent of T. B. But by a quarter-century later, the

issuance of passes was getting out of hand. Railroad commissioners, directors, officials and employes, ministers, state

legislators, newspaper editors, cattle drovers, major shippers, hotel proprietors, manufacturers of locomotives and cars,

post office and telegraph employes, real estate agents, U. S. marshals, shipwrecked seamen, friends of the conductors

and a horde of other spongers were allowed to ride free (Harlow 1946: 399-402). Scientific American Supplement no.

662 of 8 Sept. 1888, p. 144, carries the following item:

When the Boston and Providence Railroad Company was chartered, Mr. John C. Dodge, of Attleboro,

conveyed a portion of his land in consideration that he and his family should ride free over the line as

long as the land was used for railway purposes. A granddaughter of Mr. Dodge now claims that she is

entitled to the privilege named in the deed, and that the word family meant "descendants" of the grantor.

The railway company demurred on the ground that the remedy of the plaintiff is at law, and not in equity.

428

Judge Allen, however, has overruled the demurrer, and expressed an opinion that under the deed the

Boston and Providence Railroad Company would be required to carry free the descendants of Mr. Dodge for

all time.

12. Bayles 1891.

13. Canton Hist. Soc., undated. The double-tracking was accomplished just in time for the expanded traffic of the

Civil War. Although inspections of the interior of the viaduct were made at regular intervals via the removable stone at

one end of the bridge, no loosening was seen. It was not until 1910, when the viaduct was 75 years old, that the

decision was made after an inspection to reenforce the recessed arches with concrete. These reenforcements remained

conspicuously visible for many years because their color was lighter than the original stonework, yet they were not

unattractive, looking like white “eyebrows” over the arches.. Between 1998 and 2000 a number of upgrades were made to the viaduct to ward off deterioration that threatened its

capacity to handle the high speed Acela Express trains that were to begin running in Nov. 2000 (the slower Regional

Acelas debuted in Jan. 2000). The upgrading project was funded jointly by Amtrak and Mass. Bay Transportation

Authority (MBTA), which hired engineers and contractors who widened the space between the tracks, added noise-

dampening features to help keep nearby residents pacified, designed a supplemental deep foundation, repaired or

replaced the 1910 concrete spandrel arches and installed a new deck of precast prestressed concrete slabs. The

masonry was cleaned and repointed and the structure was strengthened and stabilized with eight "mini-piles:" six-inch-

diameter holes were drilled 60 to 75 feet deep through the granite of each pier into the bedrock, then a high-strength

steel rod was inserted into each hole, the holes afterward being filled with concrete. A concrete bearing pad was placed

atop each pier to support the new deck (Ownjazayeri and Peters 1998; Middleton 2000, 2003). The 46 deck slabs,

each of which was 13 feet wide, 30 feet long and weighed 55 tons, with raised curbs on each side to contain the

ballast, were laid side by side but on one track at a time so as not to interfere unduly with passage of trains. These slabs

were cast by Northeast Concrete Products at their plant in Plainville, Mass., given an abrasive sandblast treatment to

simulate a weathered appearance, and installed by Hallamare Corp. The heavy iron railings were removed, repaired

and put back in place on the new deck, with supporting poles for the catenary structure incorporated into them.

Architects/engineers were provided by HDR Engineering, Inc. Reconstruction work was by NER Construction

Management, Inc., Wilmington, Mass. Contractor was the Middlesex Corp. of Littleton, Mass., project manager Jack

Dugan (PCANY Aug. 2000). Care was taken in performing the work not to mar the aesthetic qualities of the viaduct,

which was listed in 1984 on the National Register of Historic Places. Canton viaduct now is owned by MBTA and

handles about 80 daily trains operated by MBTA (commuter trains), Amtrak and CSX, which runs two freight trains a

day over the bridge. Maximum allowable speed over the curved viaduct is 90 miles per hour for conventional trains

and 140 for the Acela Express.

14. Cash 1952; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31; Diamond 1986: 7; R. Rogers (a great grandson of Paul Revere) in

Galvin 1987: 9-10; Cook 1987: 23.

15. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

16. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 26.

17. Appleton 1871: 6.

18. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii.

19. White 1968-79: 88. The claim appeared in American Railway Times 28 Jan. 1860.

20. Copeland 1936-56: 65; White 1968-79: 85.

429

21. White 1968-79: 178. The introduction of steel tires ended the use of wooden cushion wheels in the 1870s.

22. C. Fisher 1938b: 79-80; White 1981: 37.

23. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 70.

24. NRHS 1947: 6; Johnson 1965.

25. Copeland 1931b.

26. One of these handsome lanterns now serves as a front porch light at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth (White)

Forbes, 232 South Main Street, Mansfield; it was obtained by her father, Henry Leprelet White, when the depot was

belatedly electrified, probably around 1910.

27. The addition is shown on an 1871 map of Mansfield.

28. In 2003 a new Mansfield passenger depot was built on or near the inconvenient site of the former building, in

a style deliberately reminiscent of suburban depots of 100 or more years ago. A tower displays a clock formerly

contained in the former 1883 Mansfield town hall.

29. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 70.

30. Copeland 1931c, 1931f, 1936-56: 69-71, 16 Jan. 1951, 26 Jan. 1951; Haines 1948; Carnevali 1949.

31. Thoreau, Journal 22 Mar. 1861, writing of the previous day. This may be the major snowstorm which Miss

Copeland (1933a) dates 19 April 1860, in which the roads in Mansfield were filled; Thoreau mentions no such storm in

Concord on that date.

32. C. Fisher 1939: 69; Harlow 1946: 199, who quips, "Investor Damage Company would have been a more

fitting title."

33. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 26.

430

26 – The Boston and Providence and the Civil War

The four-year War Between the States began at 4:30 a. m. 11 April 1861 when Confederate guns

opened fire on the federal government‟s Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The news spread quickly, and telegrapher Edward Paine at Mansfield passenger station was the

first in that town to receive the message,[1] though we do not know the exact hour when the

sounder began to click out the shocking news.

The Seventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, of which Mansfield men (including my great

grandfather, Chilson iron molder Hiram Barney Reed) made up a large part of Company H, was

one of scores of regiments to take up arms in response to the challenge. The ten companies of the

Seventh, 100 men each, 1046 officers and men in total, formed at Camp Old Colony, Taunton, on

15 June and spent nearly a month training under West Point Colonel Darius Couch, a 37-year-old

Taunton manufacturer. The Seventh‟s historian describes their departure for Stonington and thence New York and the nation's capital:

On the morning of July 12 the regiment was ordered to break camp and form line in heavy

marching order, to take the cars to proceed to Washington. . . . Shortly after noon we filed aboard

the cars waiting for us, and amid the waving of handkerchiefs, and tearful adieus, we moved off on

our way to Washington. . . . After the regiment . . . were seated, we moved off on the Mansfield

branch through to main line of Providence Railroad, thence through to Providence, thence to

Stonington in Connecticut, where we took the steamer "Commonwealth" up the Sound to New

York.[2]

It is unclear why the regiment traveled by the old Stonington steamboat route (even the same

boat!) favored by Isaac Stearns instead by the new nearly-all-rail line to New York City. Perhaps it

was because of the uncoordinated train schedules previously adverted to, or because insufficient

passenger cars were available to transport so many men. More likely it was because the boats were

cheaper when such large bodies of men were to be moved; or because desertion (and in spite of the

men being volunteers, a few did desert early on) was less feasible from a boat.

Many of the Massachusetts military units trained and then boarded the cars at Camp Meiggs,

situated on the Readville-Canton town line just to the east of the Boston and Providence tracks and

431

almost directly opposite Sprague Pond of submerged Black Hawk fame. The camp was named for

General Montgomery C. Meiggs, Lincoln's quartermaster general during the war, and at the height

of its development had ten barracks with streets between them, though most of the troops in

training lived in tents. The nearby Readville passenger depot became known informally as “Union Station.”[3] One advantage of Camp Meiggs was that soldiers stationed there, if lucky enough to

be granted leave, could easily visit Boston, Providence or intermediate towns by simply jumping

on a train.

An oft-published photograph taken in Providence in 1861 shows the Second Rhode Island

Volunteer Infantry Regiment of Colonel J. S. Slocum assembled in Exchange Place, with the twin

spires of Union Station visible in the right-hand half of the picture.[4] This regiment probably also

took the Stonington railroad to that Connecticut port.

Foresighted or fortuitous it was of Boston and Providence to have commenced the conversion to

burning coal in its locomotives, because now the war cut the railroad off from their southern

woodlands, making it necessary once again to obtain fuel from the dwindling woodlots on local

farms. Every station along the line still had its wood pile, but Mansfield, with its important

junction and engine house, remained the principal fueling point between Boston and Providence

and the wood pile there was larger than at most other way stations; it was the custom to keep about

200 cords stacked on the opposite side of the track from Mansfield depot.

Fred Paine, already depot master and restauranteur, in 1861 donned another hat and went into

the profitable business of buying wood, hiring sawyers to cut it into lengths to fit the locomotive

fireboxes and selling it to the railroad company. Some Mansfield farmers augmented their incomes

by hauling their own wood, cut in four-foot lengths, to the station‟s wood pile. A seasoned crew of

three men, Warren Billings, Edward Burleigh and William "Bill" Leonard, worked on the pile as

sawyers, daily cutting the sticks to length, one cut per stick, at 60 cents a cord. One of these hardy

men lived in South Walpole, and every morning walked five and a half miles to Mansfield, cut

wood all day with a bucksaw and then walked home at night. While the trains paused for water, the

men tossed the billets of wood into the tenders. Not until some years later did the railroad

company, to save money by cutting out Paine and other middle men, manage their own fuel

transactions and wood yards.[5]

It was also in 1861 that railroads in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts entered into a record

ten-year period of safe operation. From then until 1870, despite all the confusion that the War with

its troop trains and special freight movements must have introduced, they carried 200 million

432

passengers in the state without a single fatality resulting from the carriers' own negligence.[6]

The New Bedford Railroad and Taunton Branch Railroad, which had kept busy in spite of the

general financial downturn, in 1861 built in their own repair shop the engine Saturn which ran

through Taunton and in and out of Mansfield. This was a 4-4-0 with 15 by 20-inch cylinders and

66-inch drivers. It survived to become Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg number 27 and Old Colony

number 83.[7] And in 1862 the New Bedford road sent back to the Taunton locomotive works the

cranky Dimpfel anthracite-burner it had acquired from them in 1855; the Taunton company rebuilt

it into a conventional locomotive.[8]

On 1 July 1861 the New Bedford road expanded when it acquired the deed to the Fairhaven

Branch Railroad Company. Another short road came into corporate being 2 July 1862. This was

the Fall River, Warren and Providence, formed as a consolidation of two even smaller and

confusingly named roads, the Warren and Fall River, chartered 30 May 1856, and the Fall River

and Warren, 17 March 1857.[9] The new company‟s charter required that either the Boston and

Providence or the Old Colony guarantee or buy its bonds or hold stock in the company. Boston and

Providence took over both this line and the Providence, Warren and Bristol to prevent hostile Old

Colony from gaining control of them and their fine harbor access.[10]

It was also in 1862 that the boundary line between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was moved by several miles, a change that has

confused historians of the Boston and Providence Rail Road ever since. The line between the two

states had been in dispute several times in several places, and the division originally marked by the

Seekonk River was no exception.

On 1 March, as the result of a ruling issued the preceding year by the United States Supreme

Court, Pawtucket ended its schizoid existence by becoming incorporated as a town. Because the

Blackstone River passing through the town had been until then the state line, the part of Pawtucket

west of the river had belonged to North Providence, Rhode Island, and the part on the east came,

after 1812, under the jurisdiction of Seekonk, Massachusetts. But in 1862 the section of Pawtucket

west of Seven Mile and Ten Mile Rivers and a part of Seekonk, Massachusetts, now East

Providence, became annexed to Rhode Island in exchange for some territory near Fall River. [11]

Because of this change in state boundaries, the Providence, Warren and Bristol, which formerly ran

partly in Massachusetts, became entirely a Rhode Island railroad.[12]

Meanwhile, affairs on a number of the roads connecting either closely or remotely with Boston

433

and Providence seemed to be lapsing into kaleidoscopic confusion. Down along the Connecticut

shore line the mortgage bondholders of the New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad on

1 March 1862 took possession of the portion of the line from New Haven to New London. Nearly

a year later the mortgage was foreclosed on the remainder of the road between Stonington and

Groton, including the Thames River ferry. A new company, the New London and Stonington, was

chartered in Connecticut 29 June 1864 by the trustees of the third extension mortgage of New

Haven, New London and Stonington, this too covering the Stonington-Groton road and the ferry.

On the same date the first mortgage bondholders of the New Haven, New London and Stonington

chartered the Shore Line Railway, covering the portion of the line from New Haven to New

London and for the first time using the name “Shore Line” that was to be made famous in later

years by the New Haven Railroad. And on 1 December 1864 the New London and Stonington

Railroad Company was deeded to the New-York, Providence and Boston.[13]

On the “air line,” business bumbled onward as usual. On 14 June 1862 all of Midland Railroad's

property was conveyed through deed to the Midland Land Damage Company. Just to keep matters

as incomprehensible as possible, this company on 28 March 1863 changed its name to Southern

Midland Railroad Company and on April Fool's Day contracted for completion of their railroad so

that the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad Company, which did not yet officially exist but would

be chartered in Connecticut on 25 June and organized 3 July, could establish a through rail

connection between the Hudson River and the cities of Boston and Providence. There was no

intention, however, that Southern Midland would operate any part of that proposed road.

At the risk of getting a little ahead of ourselves, it is appropriate at this point to note that Boston,

Hartford and Erie, the road that had been fond of sweeping up engines the Boston and Providence

no longer wanted, on 26 August 1863 acquired a deed to the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill

Railroad and on 8 September scooped up all the property of Southern Midland plus a deed to the

unfinished Thompson and Willimantic Railroad which had been chartered on 22 June 1857 to

construct a line approximately 26 miles long between the Boston and New York Central terminus

at Mechanicsville to Willimantic.

Boston, Hartford and Erie, which was a potential threat to the other roads in southern New

England, had embarked on what Charles Fisher called a "noble enterprise." Their intent was to

build a trunk line from Boston to the Hudson River town of Peekskill, and after bridging the river,

to connect with the railroad lines serving the Pennsylvania coal fields. The Commonwealth of

Massachusetts sank millions of taxpayer dollars into this grand idea and for its reward saw the road

get swamped in the most disgraceful scandal.[14]

434

* * *

Another demonstration of the saying that it's an ill wind that blows nobody good caused the Bay

State's period of greatest prosperity to commence shortly after her young men marched off to fight

and die in the Civil War. This prosperity was felt everywhere in the industrialized North. The

strategically-situated Pennsylvania Railroad, which had begun to prune its operations at the

beginning of the conflict, realized an enormous boom as revenues exploded from $5,933,000 in

1860 to $19,533,000 in 1865![15]

In eastern Massachusetts, a truly promising and exciting event was the formation of another new

railroad, which if built (and eventually it was) would make Mansfield a four-way junction. This

was the Foxborough Branch Rail Road Company, chartered 26 April 1862 with the idea that an

8.5-mile line northward from the Boston and Providence near the Taunton Branch switch at

Mansfield through Foxborough to Walpole, connecting at some point on the Midland Railroad[16]

from Readville through Franklin, offered an opportunity for traffic to and from the west. The new

company surveyed and filed a location, which (like the present Massachusetts Route 140) was to

pass near the Hersey farm on Walnut Street in Foxborough and also (unlike Route 140) near Rock

Hill cemetery in that town; but though enthusiasm was considerable – one will recall that nearly

three decades earlier Foxborough had rejected its chance to have a main line railroad – there was

not the capital to match and the project died,[17] to be reborn eight years later in a somewhat

different form and under a different name and backed by different sponsors.

It was around 1863 (I do not know the exact date) that Boston and Providence, feeling some of

the prosperity brought by war, erected a new freight station in Mansfield on the east side of the

tracks in what used to be known as the Washington Square section, 150 feet north of West Pratt (or

Rumford) Street. The structure appears to have been roughly 40 by 80 feet in size. Framed with

pegged timbers, it was moved 100 feet north about 1877[18] and stood until March 1943.[19]

Joseph Grinnell of New Bedford resigned as a director of Boston and Providence in 1863.[20]

During that year Boston and Providence placed two new locomotives in service, both built by

George Griggs's forces in Roxbury shop. One was Daniel Nason, which earlier we mentioned, the

other was Boston – the second engine to bear that name and a sure sign that the original Boston,

the fourth locomotive the railroad owned and the only English engine left, built by Bury in 1835,

was no longer on the roster. And in fact the durable 28-year-old first Boston with its haystack

435

firepot was sold in September 1863 to – who else? -- the Boston, Hartford and Erie, becoming their

number 7;[21] this is the last available record of the ancient and honorable veteran, which

obviously still had some miles left in her. The fact that the rare old Britisher received no road

number during Boston and Providence's general numbering of 1855-'58 indicates that it was out of

service by that time. But what a shame that after surviving so long Boston could not have been

saved for posterity!

Both the new engines were standard Griggs inside-connected 4-4-0 types with smallish 54-inch

drive wheels and cylinders 16 by 20 inches.[22]

Two other rusty antiques were hauled out of the weeds and also sold in 1863 to the Boston,

Hartford and Erie Railroad, that operating museum of obsolescent motive power. Like Boston,

both engines were of the 2-2-0 wheel arrangement. The oldest, and the third engine acquired by

Boston and Providence, was the contrary Lincoln, built by American Steam Carriage as an

anthracite-burner in 1833 and rebuilt in 1834 by the same firm to burn wood; it had not seen

service since 1837. It was rebuilt by John Souther's Globe Locomotive Works in South Boston,

renamed Mt. Bowdoin and became Boston, Hartford and Erie's number 5. The other engine was

first Neponset, a Locks and Canals machine of 1837 which had seen very brief use; this went to the

Hartford road as their number 3 but retained its name.[23]

Second Boston, given the number 18, "belonged" to engineer Henry N. "Hen" Paine of the

Mansfield railroad family. Hen was Nelson Paine's second son and Fred Paine's next younger

brother. In those days, as a general rule, each locomotive was assigned to a particular engineer who

may have worked his way up from waterboy or engine wiper. This progression had the advantage

that man and machine grew and worked well together, resulting in superior performances of both.

Henry, like the rest of the Paine boys, in his earliest working days had helped his father make

and repair shoes. As we have seen, his initial contact with the railroad was as an expressman,

bringing cases of hats down to Mansfield from Foxborough to be loaded on the “Steamboat Train.” He had gone railroading in 1851, when he was 18 or 19, firing engines for Boston and Providence,

and after one year‟s experience acting sometimes as a "spare" engineer. Following 18 months as a

fireman he was given an engine of his own and became a "crack runner."

When new locomotives first came out of the shop it was customary to allow them one or two

"shake-down" trips to get their joints loosened up. Hen Paine, who had been running the New

Bedford-Boston train since fall of 1854,[24] was selected to test the Boston. He must have made a

favorable impression, because on the second day of the trials the president of the railroad climbed

436

into the varnished cab with him, and when the trip was concluded, asked Paine how he liked the

new engine. The young engineer responded in the enthusiastic affirmative, and a few days later

orders came down from headquarters that he was to run the locomotive as his own, between

Mansfield and Boston.

The train to which Hen and Boston were assigned was the “New Bedford Express,” which came up from the Whaling City each morning. At Mansfield, through passengers and the crew stayed

with the train while the New Bedford engine was cut off and Paine backed Boston onto the

coaches. Departure time from Mansfield was 8:41 a. m. During the first two summers, after he got

to Boston he ran another train out and back in the middle of the day; otherwise he was free to loaf

around the city and see the sights. In late afternoon he climbed back behind the throttle of the

“Express” and pulled out of Pleasant Street station, reaching Mansfield at 5:10 p. m. There, while a New Bedford engine was coupled up, he turned Boston over to the hostlers at the roundhouse and

went home.[25] It is reported Paine sometimes made the 23.8-mile run from Mansfield to Boston

in 25 minutes, better time than is attained now by diesel-powered commuter trains – but then there

were no Route 128 or Back Bay station stops.

Eventually Boston, which seemed a bit short-legged for express service, was rebuilt with drive

wheels a foot higher – 66 inches – and 15-1/2- by 20-inch cylinders, and in 1884 was sold.[26]

Number 17, Daniel Nason, named in honor of the efficient superintendent of the road, was to

become a far more famous and written-about engine than Boston, and in fact is the only Boston

and Providence locomotive still in existence, albeit far from its home rails. Its date of birth,

however, remains clouded. Apparently (to quote one researcher) Nason was a "back-burner"

project that George Griggs's small Roxbury work force puttered around with, perhaps as a way of

avoiding unemployment during the severe financial recession that began in 1857. Work on it seems

to have commenced in 1858 (one writer says 1856) but was not completed until five years later.

Maybe this is why the engine has lasted so long; it could be that slow-growing locomotives, like

slow-growing trees, being more solidly put together, enjoy longer and healthier lives.

A cast iron plate on the base of the side of Nason's steam dome reads:

B. &. P. R. R.

September 1858

G. S. Griggs

Machinist .

437

September 1858 is the likely date when construction on the locomotive got under way. But the

Daniel Nason seems not to have entered actual service until 1863.[27]

The locomotive's weight also is in dispute. Charles E. Fisher and others give the engine weight

(presumably without tender) as 52,560 pounds, a San Diego Railroad Museum 1999 publication

says 52,650, but in Railway and Locomotive Historical Society bulletin number 8, 1924, the

weight is given as 46,500 pounds,[28] the same as the weight of the 1863 Dedham. The cylinders

measured 16 by 20 inches (San Diego Museum says 16 by 24), the drivers 54 inches and the truck

wheels 30 inches. Crosshead feed pumps were used to feed the boiler instead of the new-fangled

injectors.[29] The top members of the frame were built up of rectangular sections while 4-inch

tubes were used for the bottom members.

White reproduces an interesting broadside photograph (undated and of unknown origin) of

Daniel Nason's left or fireman's side.[30] It resembles a builder's photo, but probably is not. The

engine stands in front of a sizeable brick building, most likely a part of Roxbury shop. The large

hexagonal or octagonal steam dome is topped by a whistle and is set ahead of the very small

square sandbox. The bell is mounted rather high, between the sandbox and the small cab, on a

standard that doubles as an escape pipe for the safety valve. The lettered plate referred to above,

but in the photograph too small to be read, is fastened to the steam dome. A nameplate reading

"DANIEL NASON" is fixed to the flank of the boiler, and the side of the cab below the window is

lettered "Boston & Providence." A circular Massachusetts state seal is mounted beneath the

running board and between the drivers. The engine, like many of Griggs's machines, has an

English-style six-wheel tender, with the name "DANIEL NASON" lettered on its side. Both the

cab and the tender are decorated with painted scrollwork. Water buckets hang from hooks on the

back of the tender collar. All in all, the Daniel Nason has the somewhat antique appearance of a

locomotive that might have been built before 1850.[31]

A man who evidently had seen the engine writes with some amusement that, in contrast to the

maze of levers and handwheels in the cab of a modern steam engine, the Nason had only three

simple controls for its engineer: reverse lever, used somewhat in the manner of an automobile gear

shift to regulate the power/speed ratio; throttle, for controlling steam admission to the cylinders;

and injector (added later), for putting water into the boiler.[32]

Daniel Nason was handed down to Old Colony Railroad when that corporation leased Boston

and Providence in 1888 and was renumbered 170. Apparently it was retired about 1892, when the

Old Colony put a new Number 170 in service, and after that, like the Boston and Providence rail-

stagecoaches, Daniel Nason had a checkered and sometimes hard-to-trace career. Its appearance

438

was backdated in 1893 for display at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago and after that for 12

years it was "held as a relic" at Roxbury. In 1905 its then owner, the New Haven Railroad, loaned

it to Purdue University in Indiana, for display, it being shipped there "upon its own wheels." Taken

back by New Haven, in 1939-„40 it was exhibited at the New York World's Fair on Long Island, where my father and I probably saw it in August of 1939; and in 1943 was at the New Haven

Railroad's Van Nest shops in the Bronx, New York, after which it was purchased by a private party.

By 1971 it was being exhibited at Danbury (Connecticut) State Fairgrounds and as of 1981 was

still there and still equipped with a pair of Griggs's patent wooden cushion driving wheels. But in

1982, to the dismay of those who would like to have seen this last remaining example of Boston

and Providence steam power returned home, Daniel Nason was acquired at auction by the Museum

of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis, and in 2001 was there still, in its 1893

configuration and paint scheme.[33]

At the close of 1863, more than halfway through the Civil War, the Boston and Providence

locomotive roster most likely included the following 16 engines in active service:

No. 2-second Massachusetts, 4-Rhode Island, 5-second Providence, 6-second Neponset, 7-

Highlander, 8-W. R. Lee, 9-Washington, 10-second New York, 11-Mansfield, 12-Attleboro (ex-King

Philip), 13-Foxboro (ex-Ariel), 14-Sharon, 15-second Roxbury, 16-third Dedham, 17-Daniel

Nason and 18-second Boston.

In addition, seven engines, all unnumbered, probably were stored unserviceable: Lincoln, first

Neponset, Suffolk, Bristol, Taghonic, Narragansett and second Canton.

* * *

The first real threat to the virtual monopoly of the Boston and Providence Rail Road between

those two state capitals came from the speculative Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad, of which

we have often written. This road was created by State Street (Boston) promoters for the purpose of

establishing a through rail connection between the Hudson River and the cities of Providence and

Boston via the air line – forming, as one writer put it, "a mighty super-highway from Boston

toward the West."[34] The company was chartered in Connecticut 25 June 1863 and organized on

3 July. By acquiring on 26 August the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad and on 8

September the Thompson and Willimantic Railroad before that road had been completed plus all

the property of the Southern Midland Railroad Company,[35] the Boston, Hartford and Erie was

439

able to begin operation of two disconnected sections of track: from Boston via Walpole and

Blackstone to the Norwich and Worcester at Mechanicsville, near Putnam; and from Providence to

Waterbury, Connecticut. It then made sense to connect these two floaters in some way, preferably

by building a railroad from Providence to Boston, parallel to McNeill's road of 1835.

A few years before, the Massachusetts General Court had granted a charter for a short railroad

from Wrentham to the North village in Attleborough. The Boston, Hartford and Erie, seeing this as

a welcome window of opportunity, gave up its plans to construct a railroad from Woonsocket west

to Pascoag, in Burrillville township, Rhode Island, and in 1864 petitioned the Ocean State's

legislature for permission to build a connecting line from a point near Valley Falls, Rhode Island,

to the Wrentham-North Attleborough town line.

To save themselves the back-breaking cost of circling around or tunneling through Smith Hill in

Providence, they would lay their rails alongside and to the west of the existing jointly owned

double track route of the Boston and Providence and the Providence and Worcester from

Providence Union Station north for about four miles. Half a mile south of Pawtucket, the proposed

track would angle off along the Moshassuck River valley and thence to the Wrentham railroad. The

Erie‟s ultimate aim was to build another railroad between Providence, Wrentham and Boston.

Boston and Providence, though a small road, possessed a lot of clout, and rose in wrath at this

threat to its intercity monopoly. Their opposition to the petitions was multi-pronged. First of all,

they maintained that Providence didn't need another railroad, because their own service and

facilities provided the Rhode Island capital with everything it could possibly desire, now or in the

future. Second, the claim by the Erie road that competition in the Providence-Boston market would

result in falling rates beneficial to shippers was ridiculous, because the cost of maintaining two

parallel railroads between the two cities would end by driving rates up. Third, and most ominous,

this new line would allow the "Great Erie monopoly," with which the Hartford line had a 30-year

contract, to get its large foot in the Rhode Island door, resulting in an out-of-state corporation

dominating the area's transport.

Furthermore, Boston and Providence and Providence and Worcester might some day want to

expand into the space along the west side of their joint line, and they couldn't do that if a third

railroad was in the way; it could even be unsafe to have another road's trains barreling along in

close proximity to their own – a derailment might obstruct both lines. Anyway, how could anyone

trust the sincerity of a company that had given up the Pascoag line, which would have been of far

more value to Rhode Island than a duplicate line to Boston?

440

Samuel Curry, arguing for the Boston, Hartford and Erie, could not deny that his road would

compete with Boston and Providence, but except at the terminal cities it wouldn't penetrate the

same towns along the way. There was plenty of business for both railroads, he said;[36] look at the

money Boston and Providence was making now. The way business was growing, the one existing

road would never be able to handle it all, "even if it built four tracks." As for safety, the Erie would

build its track far enough away from the existing rails so that there could be no hazards.

The facts were studied by a committee of the Rhode Island legislature, which presumably under

the powerful influence of Boston and Providence advised the Hartford road to withdraw its

petition. The committee doubted, correctly, that the Hartford people had the capital to construct the

road, and were against granting a charter based on speculation. This decision knocked the wind out

of the Boston, Hartford and Erie, which Boston and Providence had loaded up with unwanted

derelict engines, and it would be five years before they got off the canvas and came back for

another try.[37]

Possibly with the intent of making the city of Providence more dependent for its transportation

on the Boston and Providence, that railroad in 1864 began commuter service over its entire main

line.[38]

* * *

Before the end of the Civil War, coal burning locomotives had supplanted many if not most of

the woodburners formerly in service on Boston and Providence.[39] The railroad in 1864 put two

new engines on its rails: number 19, Commonwealth, and 20, G. W. Whistler. Both were 4-4-0

types with 60-inch driving wheels. The 19 was built by Griggs in Roxbury shop with 15-3/4 by 20-

inch cylinders. Number 20, which belatedly honored the late railroad builder who had perished

miserably in Russia, was completed in November by Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing

Company, their construction number 370, with 16 by 20-inch cylinders.[40] Since no engines were

retired in 1864, these two new acquisitions gave the Boston and Providence a roster of 18

locomotives to handle their increased service, not counting those that were deadlined.

On the day before Christmas, 1864, the original 1836 Taunton wood-frame passenger station

was destroyed by fire[41] and work almost immediately got under way to replace it with a more

solid and flame-resistant structure worthy of Taunton's growing importance in the railroad scheme

of things.

Isaac Stearns was still riding the express trains and writing about them. In his diary for 10

441

January 1865 he noted, "In Boston all day. At 5-1/2 o'clock got onto the Steam Boat Train and

arrived at Mansfield Depot at 6-1/2 in the evening. No stopping from Boston till the train arrived at

Mansfield."[42] We will have to speculate whether Isaac appreciated the latest decorative

improvements to the Pleasant Street terminal station. Along the wide roadway in front of the depot

an elegant new fence of knob-topped stone columns spaced by tall iron palings had been erected,

with an ornamental double gateway above which an elaborate scrollwork sign read, rather

misleadingly, "Providence Rail Road Station."[43] Being a sometime publisher, it is likely Isaac

made the acquaintance of James Devlin, who about 1862 had taken over the duties of Armstrong

News Agent in the depot, remaining until around 1866, being replaced about 1867 by Thomas H.

Devlin. These newsdealers wore a nickel or silver cap badge certifying them as employes of

George Washington Armstrong's newspaper business.[44]

In that same month in Canton, which despite the daily boat express passing it by in a cloud of

dust, was before long to become the busiest agency between Boston and Providence, 29-year-old

Jacob Silloway was appointed by Superintendent Daniel Nason to replace Oliver Deane as station

agent.[45]

Silloway, like Fred Paine at Mansfield, was to see plenty of traffic by his post, because in April

the Civil War ended, and through June, July, August and September, even into November, trainload

after trainload of war-weary Massachusetts troops clattered northward over Boston and Providence

rails – all the locomotives that could be spared from the regular schedules were pressed into

service hauling these extra trains.

Many of the troop trains ("mains," they would be called in World War II) tied up at Camp

Meiggs. "Readville Camp is quite near the B. and P. R. R. track," wrote Maria Stearns of Mansfield

to O. Scott Stearns, in camp at Riverhead, Long Island, New York, on 11 May 1864. [46] The

report of William Schouler, Adjutant-General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 1865,

shows that 27 Massachusetts volunteer military units – 19 infantry regiments, six artillery batteries

and two cavalry regiments – many of them fresh from Southern battlefields, traveled northward

from Providence bound for Camp Meiggs, no doubt stopping at Mansfield while the locomotives

took water; while six other units moved by train from Providence all the way to Boston, two of

these afterward backtracking to Meiggs. Once the troops returned, they were detained only as long

as it took (sometimes one day, sometimes two weeks) to give them their pay and discharge them

from the service. The toll of war had been high. Some of these units were but mere skeletons of

their original selves; for example, the 27th Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which left Massachusetts

442

for the war in September 1861 with a complement of 983, returned to Readville less than four

years later with seven officers and 132 enlisted men.

Following are the movements of returning Massachusetts troops over the Boston and Providence

Rail Road, 1865:

Unit Date Destination

2nd Infantry Regiment .............. Not known ..................... Readville

34th Infantry Regiment ............. --- June .......................... Readville

36th Infantry Regiment ............. --- June .......................... Readville

37th Infantry Regiment ............. --- June .......................... Readville

11th Light Battery ..................... --- June .......................... Readville

5th Light Battery ....................... 6 June ............................ Readville

14th Light Battery ..................... 6 June ............................ Readville

39th Infantry Regiment ............. 6 June, Tuesday a. m. .... Readville

33rd Infantry Regiment ............. 13 June, Tuesday ........... Boston, then Readville

35th Infantry Regiment ............. 13 June .......................... Readville

40th Infantry Regiment ............. 21 June .......................... Readville

16th Light Battery ..................... 22 June .......................... Readville

1st Cavalry Regiment ................ 29 June .......................... Readville

23 Infantry Regiment ................ 29 June .......................... Boston, then Readville

32nd Infantry Regiment ............ 1 July, Saturday noon .... Boston

56th Infantry Regiment ............. --- July ........................... Readville

19th Infantry Regiment ............. 3 July, 9 a. m. ................ Readville

28th Infantry Regiment ............. 5 July ............................. Readville

27th Infantry Regiment ............. 7 July, morning .............. Readville

11th Infantry Regiment ............. 13 July ........................... Readville

58th Infantry Regiment ............. 18 July, 3 a. m. .............. Readville

17th Infantry Regiment ............. 19 July ........................... Readville

20th Infantry Regiment ............. 20 July ........................... Readville

25th Infantry Regiment ............. 21 July ........................... Readville

61st Infantry Regiment .............. 22 July ........................... Readville

2nd Cavalry Regiment ............... --- July ........................... Readville

6th Light Battery ....................... 1 August, noon .............. Readville

15th Light Battery ..................... 1 August ........................ Readville

57th Infantry Regiment ............. --- August ...................... Readville

443

29th Infantry Regiment ............. Not known ..................... Readville

26th Infantry Regiment ............. 18 September, 7 p. m. .... Boston, then Gallop's Island

4th Light Battery ....................... 3 November, morning ... Boston, then Gallop's Island

5th Cavalry Regiment[47] ........ --- November ................. Boston, then Gallop's Island

Many trains arrived at Readville on Tuesday because the troops they carried had left New York

for Providence by steamboat Monday evening.

Some of the records are quite specific as to the exact route followed and the means of

conveyance employed:

The 2nd Infantry, coming from New York, "proceeded by the Neptune line of steamers, and the

Boston and Providence Railroad to Readville, Mass., where it went into camp."

The 26th Infantry arrived by steamer "in New York the morning of the 16th [September], and

embarked on the cars for Boston the morning of the 18th; arrived at Boston at 7 o'clock, P. M., the

same day, and went to Gallop's Island the same evening, there to receive final payments."

The 32nd Infantry on the night of 30 June "reached New York, where we were immediately put

on board an already over-crowded steamer. We reached Providence on the morning of the 1st of

July, where refreshments were provided by the citizens. At noon the regiment landed like strangers

in our own Boston."

The 33rd Infantry at Washington, D. C., "took cars for home, Sunday June 11, 1865, and arrived

at Boston Tuesday, June 13, 1865." Shortly after a reception, parade and collation, the regiment

"marched back to the [Boston and] Providence Depot, and proceeded by rail to Readville."

The 35th Infantry – it was known as the "Foreign Regiment" because its ranks held so many

European immigrant soldiers – came from New York to Providence on the steamer Oceanus and

after an elegant reception "took the cars and got off at Readville."

The 4th Light Battery left New York on 2 November for Boston aboard the steamer Commercial

to Stonington and then by rail to Boston. The artillery batteries for the most part left their guns in

Washington.

Five units arrived at Boston directly by ship from other ports, and seven others reached Boston

by unspecified means. The 3rd Cavalry Regiment came from Chicago by way of Detroit and the

Great Western Railroad through part of Canada, arriving in Boston via Worcester on 5 October, the

only regiment in the Union service to pass through the British dominions.[48]

* * *

In 1865 the Boston and Providence acquired one new locomotive, number 24, John Barstow, a

444

4-4-0 built at Roxbury with 15-3/4 by 22-inch cylinders and 66-inch drivers.[49] The last of the

previous Boston and Providence locomotives being number 20, the question arises as to what had

happened to 21, 22 and 23! These were to be delivered in due time. The apparent scrambling of

road numbers (engines 21, A. A. Folsom, built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works; 22, Readville,

by Taunton; 23, W. H. Morrell, by Hinkley, and 24, John Barstow, by Roxbury, were delivered in

1867, 1866, 1868 and 1865 respectively) can be accounted for by faster or slower production

schedules of the four locomotive works involved. It seems likely that the numbers of these engines

were logically assigned in the sequence in which they were ordered, not in which they were

received, delivery in some cases being delayed so that the locomotives were placed in service out

of their numbering sequence – some builders, particularly Rhode Island and Hinkley, were much

slower to deliver than others.

The same scrambling of numbers had occurred with engine 13, Foxboro, and 14, Sharon, both

built by Locks and Canals in 1859, and 15, Roxbury, which Griggs put on the rails in 1858,

evidently before the lower-numbered locomotives were delivered; the only explanation again being

that orders were assigned in numerical sequence but delivery did not occur in the same

sequence.[50]

At Taunton (which in 1864 officially became a city, its first mayor the eminent jurist Edmund

Hatch Bennett) a new depot replacing the one that had burned was completed in 1865. There are

contradictions as to its builder. Levasseur says that the well-known architect Henry Holley was

engaged as the designer, while Alexander states only that the design was influenced by Holley.

Lozier, on the other hand, claims that the new brick and stone Central Station and several other

buildings in Taunton were the work of "America's foremost architect, Richard Upjohn,"[51] who

in 1853 had designed the Norton passenger depot.

The new station was situated between Wales and Oak Streets. Originally it was topped by a

pointed spire in which a bell (probably cast in Taunton) announced the arrival and departure of

passenger trains. Atop the spire was a weathervane consisting of a gilded locomotive in miniature.

The bell tower, together with the tall chimneys and ornate fencing high on the roof, lent a slightly

more elegant look to the massive, squat structure. But as so often happens with a basically

unattractive construction of the “Early Comatose”order, when shorn of its semi-functional

appendages, as it was in later days – gilded weathervane gone, spire leveled, tower truncated,

fencing and dormer windows removed – the prince was revealed as a toad. A long train shed

attached to the building also was later torn down. By that time Central Station looked like an ugly

445

smoke-blackened stone block.

Two tracks ran through the building, as was often customary in those days despite the smoke

nuisance and risk of fire, and therein lay the seeds of its downfall. The overhead clearance at one

end was very low, and by the mid-1880s fringes of dangling ropes known as "tell-tales" had been

hung as a warning to employes riding atop the cars.[52] These did not protect against a 1964

freight train with an oversized load that somehow escaped the notice of the car inspectors and

struck the top of the opening with such serious results that the depot, one of the oldest and in its

time the busiest in southeastern New England, had to be demolished. It honorably served the

Taunton Branch, the New Bedford Railroad, the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg and its wordy

outgrowth the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford, the Old Colony and the New Haven,

and until 1960 saw scheduled passenger service.[53]

Across the tracks from Taunton Central Station, in a large brick structure occupied in mid-20th

century by Grossman Lumber, were the machine shops of that builder of beautifully proportioned

locomotives, William Mason. Also near the station was Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing

Company (these buildings no longer exist). Both companies rolled their newly built engines out

onto the Wales Street crossing to have their pictures taken – it has been said, perhaps correctly, that

more locomotives were photographed on Wales Street than any other place in America.[54]

446

NOTES

1. Copeland 1936-56: 71, 16 Jan. 1951.

2. Hutchinson 1890: 5-8.

3. Howley 1998. When I was a boy, my father pointed out the site, which I believe by then had been converted to

a sort of race track, on the right-hand side of the railroad as our train neared Readville from the direction of Mansfield;

his father had trained there as a 15-year-old infantry drummer boy in spring of 1865. All that remains at present of the

camp is a small park at the corner of Stanbro St. and Hyde Park Ave. officially called "Camp Meiggs Memorial Park,"

though a sign on a fence reads "Camp Meiggs Playground." The rest of the former camp has been filled with houses

(Howley 1998).

4. NYNH&H Aug. 1943: front and rear cover; Alexander 1970: 282.

5. Copeland 1936-56: 64-5; Carnevali 1949; Hodges 1957; Dix 1973.

6. Shaw 2001: 36.

7. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 70; C. Fisher Apr. 1939: 49.

8. Lozier 1978-86: 450-1. White (1968-79: 88) notes that another Taunton engine having a Dimpfel boiler was

put in service on Baltimore & Ohio with only moderate success. White makes no bones about calling the Dimpfel

firebox a "freak" design.

9. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 26, 28. Harlow (1946: 230) gives 1860 as the opening date for Fall River, Warren &

Providence.

10. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 33; NHRHTA bull. Feb. 1971: v. 2, n. 1, p. 5.

11. Comm. Mass. acts of 1861, chapt. 187; R. I. acts of 1861, chapt. 379; in Van Zandt 1966: 101. This new state

line was revised in 1897 but without any substantial change.

12. Appleton 1871: 8.

13. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 27, 28, 30-31.

14. C. Fisher 1939: 70; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 27, 28, 29. Fisher invites his readers "to note the line of old,

wornout locomotives with which this road started and to note the speedy change [in the quality of motive power] with

the coming of state aid."

15. Baltzell 1966: 109-110.

16. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 27.

17. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 31; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 27; Lane 1966: 114; Patton 1998: 19.

18. Copeland 1931f.

19. Mansfield News 14 Mar. 1943.

20. Biographical directory of the U. S. Congress.

21. C. Fisher 1938b: 80; Edson 1981: xv1.

22. C. Fisher 1938b: 82.

23. C. Fisher 1938b: 80, 81, 1939: 72, 73; Edson 1981: xvi, xvii. Fisher (1938b) does not mention first Neponset

but admits (1939: 72) that he erred in his original B&P roster.

24. As of May 1884 Henry Paine had been running the New Bedford train for 29 years 8 months (Mansfield News

30 May 1884).

447

25. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 70; Carnevali 1949. The Mansfield News (unknown date) says Paine became

engineer of the Boston hauling the New Bedford Express in 1867. Perhaps at first he fired the Boston. By Sep. 1880

Hen Paine was running the 4:25 p. m. passenger train out of Boston hauling both Boston & Providence and Old

Colony cars, the latter (in England called “slip coaches”) to be dropped on the fly from the train at Mansfield. The OC cars were wider than those used by B&P, and Hen unwittingly destroyed someone's brand new bicycle parked too near

the tracks when the engine and B&P cars passed it with room to spare but the overhanging OC coaches demolished it.

(Mansfield News 17 Sep. 1880.)

26. Edson 1981: xvii.

27. White 1981: 37-9. Sanderson (1944: 15) claims Daniel Nason was built in 1856, but its number (17) suggests

that it was neither conceived nor put in service as early as this; of the two bracketing engines, number 16, Dedham,

went into service in 1860 and number 18, Boston, which in driver and cylinder size was Nason's twin, in 1863. White

(1968-79: 178) opts at first for 1858, but a photo caption in White (1982: 36) states that Nason was built "in 1858 or

1863 . . . .". C. Fisher (Sept. 1938: 82); Along the Line (Aug. 1943, in NHRHTIA fall 1978: 30); and Swanberg (1988:

86) all give the birthdate as 1863; C. Fisher or his printer misspells the name "Nalson." Edson (1981: xvii) does not

disagree with C. Fisher's date, which probably is the correct one.

28. White 1981: 37-9, q. v. for much interesting and detailed mechanical data about Nason, its subsequent

rebuilding, and the history of its attempted preservation, along with photographs of the engine taken in 1879, 1897 and

1939-40. See also NHRHTA 1981: v. 12, issue 4, p. 4, for information relating to the shipment of Nason in 1938, and

a photograph of the engine at Roxbury shops coupled to Old Colony engine 272 and an early "stagecoach" car. Also,

Sci. Am. Suppl. (20 May 1905, p. 403) for a brief article quoted from American Machinist about the proposed transfer

of Nason from the NYNH&H R. R. to Purdue University.

29. The injector, eventually used on practically all steam locomotives to feed water to the boiler, was patented in

France by engineer/scientist/gunsmith Henri J. Giffard in 1858 and introduced in 1860 into the U. S., where at first,

like many new ideas, it proved unpopular. Most engines of that era were equipped with feed-water pumps mounted

behind the cylinder and actuated by the movement of the piston rod (White 1968-79: 124-7), which meant the engine

had to be moving before water from the tender could be taken into the boiler.

30. White 1981: 36. I have a print of the same photo but do not remember where or from whom I got it.

31. Refer also to White 1968-79: 226 and 1981: 37-9. R. Fleischer in 2003 showed me some excellent photos he

had taken of this engine, including detailed close-ups of the inside running gear.

32. Harlow 1946: 363. The injector was added about 1879 in place of the feed-water pump. Note the apparent total

absence of brake controls; I presume there was at least a hand brake on the tender.

33. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; NYNH&H Aug. 1943: v. 13, n. 9, photo caption, reprinted by NHRHTIA fall 1987: 30;

White 1968-79: 178, 226; Edson 1981: xvii; evidence of J. W. Swanberg in NHRTIA Bull. May 1971: v. 2, n. 2;

Swanberg 1988: 36, in which it is shown restored to its 1863 appearance; Railfan & Railroad Jan. 2000: 4; Terry 2001:

17. I say that my father and I probably saw Nason at the New York World's Fair in 1939 because although we toured

all of the railroad exhibits I do not specifically recall seeing that particular engine. Nason was supposed to have been

acquired by Valley R. R. in Connecticut but somehow, to the regret of those who had expected the old engine to be

preerved in New England, it escaped them and ended far from home in St. Louis. (R. Fleischer, pers. comm. 2003.)

34. Harlow 1946: 201.

448

35. C. Fisher 1939: 69; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 28, 29.

36. "Rhode Island, though the smallest, is tenth in rank of all the States as a producer, and her people are

consequently rich and prosperous" (Thomas Hughes, English Member of Parliament and author of the Tom Brown

novels, in Schouler 1866: 131).

37. Ozog 1990: 29-32.

38. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

39. Carnevali 1949.

40. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981 xvii.

41. Levasseur 1994: 18.

42. Buck c1980: v. 4, p. 234.

43. See photos in Barrett 1996, p. 91 and 92.

44. Barrett 1996: 185; see p. 183 for photos.

45. Galvin 1987: 10.

46. Buck c1980: v. 4, p. 180. There was another camp for returning veterans at Myrick's, on the former Taunton

Branch; the unattached Company C of cavalry camped there 26 to 29 Sept. 1865 (Schouler 1866: 60). Possibly this

was on the site of the former religious camp meetings attended by Isaac Stearns,

47. The 5th Cavalry was the only black cavalry regiment raised by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They

had been commanded by future railroad authority Charles Francis Adams, Jr.

48. Schouler 1866: from historical sketches of various units. See also Chase 21 Oct. 1965.

49. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii.

50. See page 413-5 for further comments on numbering.

51. Alexander 1970: 195, q. v. for 1950s photograph; Lozier 1978-86: 394; Levasseur 1994: 18. Lozier refers to

the depot as the Union Station. Timetables referred to it as "Taunton Central" (C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 58; see p. 63

for photo). I am unable to resolve the contradiction in architects. If Holley was not the architect, his influence shows.

As a rule Upjohn preferred one or another of the 19th century modifications of the Italian Renaissance style, but both

Alexander and Levasseur refer to Taunton station as Victorian Gothic. Upjohn designed locomotive builder William

Mason's $25,000 house in Taunton, and this led to a rash of other Upjohn-designed buildings in the city, including

Taunton Inn, Pilgrim Church and St. Thomas Church (Lozier 1986: 394). In 1851 or '52 he designed the Italianate style

Bristol Academy building at 66 Church Green, Taunton, occupied since 1926 by Old Colony Historical Society, and in

1854 the George Crocker house at 2 Dean St., Taunton (Taunton street guide 1987: 12). Upjohn also designed a

"railroad shed" in Taunton, date not known (Upjohn papers 1839-1914). My father and I derived our middle names

from Judge Bennett, a friend of the family.

52. The father of the railroad historian Charles E. Fisher believed that it was in the mid-1880s that tell-tales were

introduced on the railroads, among the first being those which hung at either end of the run-through Taunton Central

Station, though he admitted the date could be five to ten years in error. Tell-tales were made sometimes of leather,

sometimes of rope. They could not come too soon for "killer" bridges like Lane's or Skinner's in West Mansfield.

53. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 58, q. v. for photo on p. 63; C. Fisher in Railroad Magazine Oct. 1955: 39;

Alexander 1970: 195, q. v. for 1950s photo; Sun Chronicle 10 July 1974; Lozier 1978-86: 394; Levasseur 1994: 16-21,

27, 28, including five photos.

54. NRHS 1947: 3.

449

27 – The post-war railroad boom

If the North thought Civil War profits had reached fabulous levels, they hadn't seen anything yet.

Over the three decades after 1870 the national wealth tripled[1] and this despite the financial Panic

of 1873 and the great railroad strike of 1877. Immediately after the war a new country-wide

railroad boom began[2] , and some of its happy effects were felt locally. In 1865 double-tracking

commenced on the last section of Boston and Providence that was still single iron, between

Mansfield and West Junction (now called Boston Switch). This work was started from both ends

and was completed at West Mansfield in the fall of 1866.[3] At about the same time Providence

and Worcester extended its double track from West Junction to Lonsdale. On their two jointly-

operated tracks between West Junction and Providence both railroads continued, as noted before,

to run "left-handed."[4] But the Taunton Branch main line remained single track for some years to

come.[5]

In Central Falls, the Boston and Providence track had crossed the Blackstone River on a high

wooden bridge. Between 1865 and 1867 this structure was rebuilt for double track in the form of a

covered bridge, and to protect it from sparks and the weather was sheathed with metal, earning it

the nickname "Tin Bridge," which the much newer, unsheathed bridge carries to this day.[6]

During the War the Boston and Providence was cited by the town of Pawtucket for neglecting

upkeep on cattle guards at the station. In the 19th century it was common for herds of cattle to be

driven along the public roads from one pasture to another or to slaughterhouses, and several forms

of guards (Thoreau called them, perhaps not quite correctly, "cowcatchers"[7]) were maintained by

Boston and Providence and other railroads to keep these critters from entering the right-of-way at

grade crossings. They might be wooden gratings like slanted sections of fencing erected close to

the track, generally painted white; culverts with decks made of timbers or old rails with open

spaces between them; or upward-pointing triangles of sheet iron fastened to the ties between and

on either side of the rails.[8]

Until this time the Easton Branch Railroad between Stoughton and Easton, envisioned by the

shovel-making Ames brothers of North Easton, chartered in 1854 and opened in 1855, had been

operated since its beginning by the Boston and Providence. It carried but few passengers over its

crooked trackage, and in 1866, when the Old Colony and Newport Railway, which previously had

450

run trains from Boston to Fall River and Newport by way of the Bridgewaters, opened a new road

passing through Stoughton, Easton and Taunton, the Easton Branch was rendered largely

superfluous. On 23 September 1866[9] the Branch‟s operating pact with the larger road ceased[10]

and the next day the first Old Colony and Newport passenger train entered North Easton.[11]

The Midland Railroad on 3 April 1866 reopened from Boston out to Readville, a line which had

been in disuse since 1858; on 1 December of that year the Boston, Hartford and Erie, whose board

was loaded up with directors of the Erie Railroad, picked itself up and leased the Norfolk County

Railroad of which later they took full possession; and in 1867 the Midland opened as far as South

Dedham,[12] helping to make Boston, if not the Hub of the Entire Universe, a more important

railroad hub than ever before.

Boston and Providence in 1866 put two more locomotives on the rails. These were number 22,

Readville, a 4-4-0 with 16 by 20-inch cylinders and 60-inch driving wheels, built in July by

Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company (their construction number 373); and number 25,

Gen'l Grant, also a 4-4-0 built by Griggs at Roxbury with 16 by 20-inch cylinders and 66-inch

drivers. Both engines remained in service until 1883.[13]

A heavy snowstorm in January 1867 brought trains in southeastern New England almost to a halt

and made highway travel impossible. Isaac Stearns's daughter Hepzibah, who lived in East

Mansfield, on the 17th wrote in her diary, "A terrible storm is raging without. Father cannot go to

the Depot tonight." And on the 18th: "The storm has abated; snow banks are numerous. It is said

there has not been such a storm since 1830. Father had hard work to get to the house today. The

snow is up to the [stone] wall in many places. . . . Two days Father has been obliged to stay at

home." As a measure of the difficulty the railroad must have had in clearing its tracks, she wrote

on Sunday, 20 January, in those days before state and municipal highway plows, "The men in the

neighborhood . . . are engaged in breaking out the roads. Uncle William called in last evening from

his labor of shovelling snow. Said he had nearly frozen his feet the day before."

Even as late as the 27th, she noted, "Father started to go to the Depot today, but gave it up."[14]

It was to be almost ten years before another major snowstorm would erase the memory of the

blizzard of January 1867.

The birth of a proposed new spur line occurred 8 February 1867 when a state charter was

granted for the Attleborough Branch Railroad from a junction with Boston and Providence at

451

Attleborough (still known to locals as "East Attleboro") to the North village that later became the

separate town of North Attleboro. Incorporation of this line was undertaken by a group of North

Attleboro businessmen who still smarted over the insult of having been bypassed by the Boston

and Providence in 1835. The right-of-way would branch northwest from the Providence line near

Peck Street, which it crossed, run parallel to Peck Avenue, cross Bank Street south of Leroy Street,

cross North Main Street and end in North Attleboro on what was then the Barrows Estate, where

Holbrook Avenue joins South Washington Street, directly opposite the present high school. Part of

the abandoned roadbed shows on the United States Geological Survey quadrangle map of the area

as a dirt road leading to Peck Street, now used for an electric transmission line. [15]

At about the same time the Taunton Branch began building a track westerly to Attleborough by

way of the Norton village of Chartley. If the forefathers who slept restlessly in Attleborough‟s Old Kirk Yard thought they had known the last of being disturbed by railroad construction, they were

disabused of that notion as the new line turned off from its junction with the Boston and

Providence. To allow for its passage, the cemetery lost more land, and 100 to 175 burials had to be

removed to Woodlawn and Mount Hope Cemeteries in Attleborough.[16]

Immediately after the Attleborough Branch grant, the five-year-old Foxborough Branch

Railroad, which was to prove so significant to Mansfield and its already-busy junction, was

resurrected. Until this time the Foxborough Branch, projected to run north from Mansfield through

Foxborough to Walpole, had existed as a "paper" road and owned nary a car nor a locomotive, nor

had it laid a rail. Now it was taken over by a new group, with authority to reach out from Walpole

northward through the towns of Medfield and Sherborn to a connection with the Agricultural

Branch Railroad (chartered 26 April 1847, opened from Framingham Center to Northborough 1

December 1855, operated by the Boston and Worcester and extended 14 more miles to Pratt's

Junction in July 1866[17]) at South Framingham. On 18 March 1867 the proposed road was

chartered as the Mansfield and Framingham Rail Road Company.[18] Some time would pass

before construction of this new northward-reaching line was completed.

Even more significantly, a month later, on 17 April 1867, the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg

Railroad, which will reappear in large print in this story, was incorporated under Massachusetts

law by a name change of and consolidation with the little Agricultural Branch and (on 1 July 1869)

with the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad Company.[19]

452

The town of Foxborough was quick to get a passenger station, and apparently, if published dates

are to be believed, had one ready even before any rails were spiked down. In 1867 a flat-roofed

two-story coffin shop, converted by the Leonards to a carpenter shop, was moved bodily about 450

or 500 feet from near the present Mechanic Street grade crossing northward along the right-of-way

and made over into a depot. An added mansard roof gave it another story, and apartments were

arranged on the second and third floors. The stationmaster and telegrapher were to share a central

office, with separate (and I trust equal) waiting rooms for men and women on either side. A freight

shed was attached to the south end of the station, and at some time a small roofed shelter was

erected across the track from the depot for the benefit of southbound passengers. This station

building stood until 1911 or 1912, when it was torn down in favor of a brick depot.[20]

On 15 May 1867 the Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation transferred to Edmund

Briggs by limited quit claim deeds two small triangles of land just north of Hodges Brook in West

Mansfield, apparently a part of the Boston and Providence right-of-way. The northernmost of these

lots is identified as Parcel 202 on Mansfield Assessors' Plate 6.[21]

In about the same year, another Mansfield straw hat factory was begun by Charles H. Mowry in

the former Union Store and hall just north of the freight house on the west side of Washington

Square beside the Boston and Providence railroad yard. It is said that some of the factory girls who

worked at braiding straw carried on flirtations with the trainmen.[22]

Meanwhile, as Pawtucket's status as an industrial city continued to mushroom, the Boston and

Providence and Providence and Worcester railroads in 1867 together bought land for a new

passenger station in the town.[23]

* * *

Boston and Providence in 1867 put one new locomotive on the rails, rebuilt an older engine and

sold still another. Number 21, A. A. Folsom, named for the latest superintendent of the road, was

built by Rhode Island (their construction number 18, revealing that they hadn't been in business

long – this was the first of many engines delivered by that builder to Boston and Providence) with

16 by 22-inch cylinders and 60-inch drive wheels. It lasted until the Old Colony takeover, when it

was renumbered 174, and then 774 by the New Haven Railroad, which rebuilt it in Roxbury shop

in 1903 with the same size cylinders but 69-inch drive wheels. In the New Haven's general

renumbering of 1904 it was given yet another number, 2011, and was not scrapped until 30 April

1915, at the age of 48 years – my father and certainly my grandfather might have seen it in

453

operation.

Engine number 4, Rhode Island, was rebuilt in 1867 with 15-1/2 by 20-inch cylinders and 60-

inch drivers; it was scrapped in 1884. The unnumbered locomotive Canton, built by Griggs in

1849, which had been out of active service since at latest 1858, was sold in 1867.[24]

George Griggs, in an advertisement in King's Railroad Directory (1867: 180), claimed a savings

in tire wear of 50 percent for his wood-cushioned locomotive driving wheel.[25]

To stable these locomotives, the Boston and Providence directors in 1867 reported the erection

of a "substantial engine house, of sufficient capacity to accommodate all our motive power, with a

new and skillfully constructed turntable . . . ." This brick building with its enclosed turntable,

situated on the west side of the main line tracks about a mile from Boston‟s Pleasant Street passenger terminal, between the railroad and present-day Huntington Avenue, was designed to

house all 31 locomotives then owned by the railroad. A photograph and a late 1890s map show it to

have formed an almost complete circle – a true roundhouse indeed![26] The Boston and

Providence may have stabled 31 locomotives at the time, but I can account for only 23 or 24 at the

end of 1867.[27]

* * *

Perhaps as an indication of a general improvement in business, in 1868 Boston and Providence

instituted an added commuter service in the form of so-called "turns" between Boston and

Readville.[28] That there was a business upturn seems evident: In the decade 1858 to 1867 the

railroad had acquired 12 new locomotives; but beginning in 1868 business must have improved

radically, or perhaps it was a matter of replacing obsolescent engines worn out during the war

years, because from then until 1874 they acquired 26 locomotives, most of which survived into the

Old Colony era and some lived to be scrapped by the New Haven Railroad. A significant change is

the fact that for the first time since 1845 the great majority of these engines were conventional

machines built by outside vendors instead of by George Griggs and his work force in the railroad's

Roxbury shop. Whether this was because the off-road power was more economical to buy and run,

or the company had recognized two decades too late that Griggs's inside-connected engines (and

perhaps the Roxbury shop facilities too) were outmoded, or Griggs (who would die in 1870) had

begun to fail, is not clear.

West Mansfield station agent John Bayley in 1868 talked the Boston and Providence brass

454

collars into moving his little depot southward and across the tracks to a new site beside the Elm

Street grade crossing, so that he might augment his salary by acting as crossing tender for an

additional $25 monthly. The express business at the small country station also brought him a little

added income. Later, Bayley's salary as agent was increased to a princely $35 a month.[29]

Starting in 1868, Boston and Providence put three new 4-4-0-type engines in service and

scrapped an older one. Number 23, W. H. Morrell, was built by Hinkley and Williams Locomotive

Works in Boston, construction no. 846, with 16 by 24-inch cylinders (the longest piston stroke of

any engine yet built for Boston and Providence, suggesting higher than usual tractive effort) and

60-inch drive wheels.[30] The Morrell was the first of only two engines built for the Providence

road by Hinkley, the largest of the New England locomotive plants. Like some other Yankee

builders, Holmes Hinkley, who founded the company in 1848 as the Boston Locomotive Works (he

died in 1866), was influenced by Griggs into adopting inside-connected engines, but unlike Griggs

sluffed into slipshod manufacturing methods, with the result that his and other shops in the region

earned themselves a poor reputation,[31] which may explain the small amount of business Hinkley

was able to do with Boston and Providence.

Number 26, Judge Warren, was a Griggs/Roxbury product. Number 32, Pegasus, originally

named Gov. Clifford, was built by Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company (construction

number 440). Both these machines had 17 by 22-inch cylinders – the largest-diameter cylinders yet

applied to a Boston and Providence engine – and drivers 66 inches in diameter.[32] Herein lies

another minor mystery: Why the out-of-sequence number 32; and why was the engine renamed?

Colonel John Henry Clifford, a distinguished resident of Bristol County and (as has been

mentioned) a former employer as well as a benefactor of Frederick Douglass, had been Whig

governor of Massachusetts in 1853 and '54 and was four years out of office at the time the engine

named originally for him was delivered.

In 1870 another new engine built by Griggs took the name Gov. Clifford, but its number was 28!

Was this second Clifford a classier engine than the original and therefore considered more suitable

to honor the ex-chief executive officer of the Commonwealth? C. E. Fisher wrote that Clifford

wanted his name painted on a Griggs-built engine and had it removed from the Taunton machine.

And why was its number lower than that of the first Clifford, renamed Pegasus?[33]

Also in 1868 the 4-4-0 Suffolk, unnumbered, built by Griggs in 1846, presumably was rescued

from the daisies behind Roxbury shop and sold to the Norwich and Worcester Railroad.[34] This

appears to have left Boston and Providence with the following locomotives, with dates built, on its

roster at the end of 1868:

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No. 1, Norfolk (questionable), 1845; 2, second Massachusetts, 1846; 4, Rhode Island, 1848,

rebuilt 1867; 5, second Providence, 1849; 6, second Neponset, 1849; 7, Highlander, 1850; 8, W. R.

Lee, 1853; 9, Washington, 1854; 10, second New York, 1854; 11, Mansfield, 1855; 12, Attleboro

(ex-King Philip), 1855; 13, Foxboro (ex-Ariel), 1859; 14, Sharon, 1859; 15, second Roxbury,

1858; 16, third Dedham, 1860; 17, Daniel Nason, 1863; 18, second Boston, 1863; 19,

Commonwealth, 1864; 20, G. W. Whistler, 1864; 21, A. A. Folsom, 1867; 22, Readville, 1866; 23,

W. H. Morrell, 1868; 24, John Barstow, 1865; 25, Gen'l Grant, 1866; 26, Judge Warren, 1868; and

32, Pegasus (ex-Gov. Clifford), 1868.

In addition to these engines in active service, the unnumbered Bristol, a Griggs product of 1846,

was still on the roster though probably not in service.

Thus Boston and Providence appears to have had a fleet of 25 or possibly 26 locomotives in

active use, some of which, however, were sufficiently long in the tooth that we might suppose they

were relegated to work-train usage if not stored unserviceable behind the barn.[35] It will be noted

that except for Bristol, all the old locomotives that failed to survive the numbering era were at last

gone.

* * *

Probably in the late 1860s, a decade or more after Gardner Chilson started up his furnace

company diagonally across the tracks from Mansfield depot, local blacksmith and rail mender

Simeon Clark opened another foundry, this one on the opposite side of the railroad from Chilson's,

1000 feet north of the junction switch, about where Shields' foundry stood later and across the

tracks from his smithy.[36]

Prior to 1869 the railroads of Massachusetts had been watched over by the Secretary of State

and several legislative committees which were not always in a position to counteract the

sometimes public-be-damned attitude of the corporations. Formation during that year of the

Massachusetts Railroad Commission chaired by attorney, historian and Civil War vet Charles

Francis Adams, Jr., [37] for the first time gave the state a full-time body with legal authority to

monitor the railroad business. The new Commission was empowered to decide whether service

was adequate, to make changes and to hear complaints from the public. In addition, a law passed in

1865 prohibited a railroad that had operated a passenger station for five successive years in

Massachusetts from curtailing service at that depot without legislative approval.[38]

In Rhode Island, the General Assembly in its January 1869 session granted authorization for the

Boston, Hartford and Erie to realize its 1864 dream of continuing its tracks from Providence

456

through Pawtucket and Lonsdale, Rhode Island, to a junction with a proposed railroad running

from Boston through the village of North Attleboro. But the authority was granted too late: the

previously heavyweight Erie road now lacked the money to undertake the work.[39]

Southeastern New England was rocked by a rare hurricane, popularly called the "Great Gale,"

on 8 September 1869. The wind blew over apple orchards, raised waves on Mansfield's normally

placid factory ponds and caused major destruction to forest trees in the area, especially the stately

white pines, but I have seen no records of how it affected the railroads or whether train and

telegraph services were obstructed or hindered by fallen trees and poles. It was the first New

England hurricane since 1816 and the last until the great blow of 1938 which, together with an

abnormally high tide, wrought so much destruction and loss of life along the New Haven

Railroad's vulnerable Shore Line.

This hurricane was followed on 24 September by a financial storm in which thousands of Wall

Street businessmen were ruined as Jay Gould, with his $100 million fortune a manipulator of

railroad stocks, and the Erie Railroad‟s Colonel James “Jubilee Jim” Fisk, Jr., who three years later met violent death in a quarrel over an actress, tried to corner the gold market. Repercussions of this

disaster were to be felt throughout the railroad industry.

Duplicating their motive power acquisitions of the preceding year, Boston and Providence got

itself three new locomotives in 1869 and sold another. Number 27, David Tyler, was a Griggs

4-4-0 with 17 by 22-inch cylinders and 66-inch driving wheels. The second engine carried no road

number and was what was known as a "dummy," that is, a small locomotive disguised with an

exterior housing resembling a passenger coach so as not to frighten horses when used in street

operation. This machine, an 0-4-0 with 11 by 15-inch cylinders and tiny 43-inch drivers (the

smallest yet applied to a Boston and Providence engine), was constructed by the Rhode Island

Locomotive Works (their number 129) and appropriately named Little Rhody. This quaint machine

may have been used for inspection trips and later served as a pay car.[40]

The final addition to the 1869 roster reveals that Master Mechanic Griggs, perhaps having

mellowed with age, had finally gotten over his aversion to having his name painted on an engine.

Number 30, G. S. Griggs (the second), was also built by the Rhode Island works (their number 96),

cylinders 16 by 24 inches, drive wheels 60 inches.[41] These two "Rhody" machines began a

trend: From that time until the end of Boston and Providence's corporate existence in 1888 only ten

of their 61 new engines were to be built by other than Rhode Island Locomotive Works while a

scant three were erected in their own shops.

457

First number 5, second Providence, built by Taunton 20 years before, was scrapped in 1869; and

at last the old Bristol of 1846 found a new home: she was purchased, possibly by the Portland and

Ogdensburg Railroad, which renamed her Presumpsic.[42]

The Stoughton Branch Railroad also got itself a nice new engine in 1869, built by Taunton

Locomotive Manufacturing Company and named F. W. Lincoln in honor of the first president of

the line. This little locomotive, an 0-4-0 saddle tank, later renamed Stoughton, was stabled in the

one-stall engine house at Canton.[43]

Locomotives named Jos. Grinnell (Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company) and New

Bedford, Thos. Mandell and Ward M. Parker (Rhode Island Locomotive Works) went into service

on the Taunton Branch in or about 1869 and probably appeared regularly at the Boston and

Providence junction at Mansfield.[44]

It was in 1869 that the Taunton Car Company was formed in that city for the purpose of

constructing railroad cars. Their new shops were situated a half block from the Mason machine

works. Directors of the firm included William Mason and Parley Ide Perrin (for whose family

Perrin‟s station on the old Boston and Providence main line was named) of the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company.[45]

* * *

After seven years of corporate maneuvering followed by actual construction, the Mansfield and

Framingham Rail Road, whose charter entitled it to build a line between those two junctions,

succeeded in 1869 in laying rails up the steady grade from Mansfield to the hilltop town of

Foxborough. The work was engineered by the managers of the newly-formed Boston, Clinton and

Fitchburg Railroad. Boston and Providence donated $15,000 toward construction, not out of the

goodness of their hearts but in the expectation that when completed the road would serve as a

northern outlet for coal brought from the ships at New Bedford and Providence,[46] thus answering

the veiled threat of Boston, Hartford and Erie to flood the Boston area with coal shipments coming

over its rails from Pennsylvania. At 6 p. m. on Saturday, 18 September, the Boston and Providence

got further into the spirit by allowing its engine Boston (whether its regular runner Henry Paine was

at the throttle is not recorded) to couple onto a construction train consisting of two flat cars and haul

this minimal load northward up the grade from the junction to Foxborough depot.

The Dedham Gazette for 25 September gives us a picture of this first unofficial run between the

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neighboring towns:

Distinguished Arrival. Quite a sensation was caused in this town [Foxborough] on Saturday evening

last by the appearance of the first train over the Mansfield and Framingham Railroad, under the

conductorship of Mr. Fred Paine of Mansfield. It was simply a construction train, but nevertheless

the citizens assembled in large numbers to welcome its arrival. The Foxboro Brass Band was in

attendance and performed its part in the impromptu ceremonies with the skill and good taste for

which it is noted. Cheers were given for the road, and for its President, E. P. Carpenter, Esq., of

Foxboro.[47] President Carpenter, who was on board, responded in a neat and appropriate speech.

The bell rang, the whistle screamed, the band played, and the train, freighted with as many of the

crowd, male and female, as could possibly be stowed on board, started on its return to Mansfield.

After a pleasant ride, despite the accommodations, and a short stop at Mansfield, Conductor Paine

attached a couple of passenger cars to the locomotive, and returned the party safely home at about

eight o'clock in the evening. Three cheers for the conductor followed the debarkation, and the

passengers dispersed, all doubtless determined to crow for the rest of their days over the fact that

they were passengers on the first train over our railroad.

The Mansfield historian wrote in 1931 that "Many of the older people can now picture the

conductor, Fred Paine, in his tall silk hat, and hear him exclaim, 'Godfrey mighty!' as the

construction train started toward Mansfield overloaded with passengers." Upon reaching the

junction, the jubilant Foxborough citizens, who had filled not only the two flat cars but even the

tender and engine, paraded the streets before returning to their home town.[48]

Whether or not the Framingham railroad already was in receivership is not clear, but a mortgage

bond in my possession lists Lyman Nichols, William Thomas and Ebenezer Torrey as trustees of the

company as of 1 July 1869.[49]

The new railroad departed the Boston and Providence main line a little over 700 feet north of

Mansfield depot and rounded a sharp left-hand curve to a culvert over the Rumford River, also

called Forge Brook. About 800 feet north of the culvert the track began to climb an unvarying one

percent grade[50] that lasted two miles and was steeper than any gradient on the Providence road; it

was to prove a "tough pull" for the most powerful steam and diesel freight haulers[51] well through

the 20th century. At the halfway point the track passed the Foxborough village of Foxvale (also

known as Painesburg, after the Paine family who lived there before moving to Mansfield, or

Rockdale, for its numerous rocks), where much later there would be a passenger station. There were

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two short curves between Rumford River and the summit at Foxborough, both of one degree,

though there was a third curve, of 2.5 degrees, right at Foxborough station; all curves were right-

hand coming from the direction of Mansfield. Elevation of the depot at Foxborough was about 120

feet higher than Mansfield station. The distance between the two depots was 2.95 miles.[52] The

single track was centered in a right-of-way four rods (66 feet) wide.[53]

The Mansfield and Framingham, when completed and opened for business, as it was 1 May

1870,[54] would send an incredible number of freight and livestock cars through Mansfield,

frequently more than 250 a day requiring extra trains as well as the regular freights to handle them,

many of them coming from the mid-west and headed for Providence, totally putting the quietus to

an unnamed local gentleman (a latter-day Elijah Dean) who in 1869 had glumly forecast that "one

yoke of oxen would draw all of the freight that would ever go over this road."[55]

With the new railroad came a roundhouse for the stabling and servicing of engines, erected at

Mansfield in the angle between the Boston and Providence and the Mansfield and Framingham

tracks, around a 50-foot turntable. The local paper, in its Faulkerian-sentenced Victorian prose, tells

of it:

It would be interesting to anyone, posted or otherwise in railroad matters, to spend sometime in the

vicinity of the Railroad Station at Mansfield, and witness the bustle and apparent confusion

attendant upon the movements of the numberless trains almost always in the vicinity, and also to

notice the nature and abundance of the facilities for the transaction of every kind of business

connected with a central Railroad Station. Among those facilities the buildings are of course

prominent, and a description of the one which provides stabling for so many of the iron horses as

may be off duty will, we think, be of interest.

The Round house is located near the terminus of the M. & F. road – The name is somewhat of a

misnomer as the building is not an entire circle. It was built in 1869 by the Boston & Providence and

Mansfield & Framingham Corporations, at a cost of $50,000, and is called one of the best structures

of its kind in the State. It is built of stone, measures about 290 feet on the line of its outer

circumference, and 115 feet on the inner line, is 65 feet in depth, and contains accommodations for

ten locomotives. Tracks from the different pits converge to a turn table of the most approved

construction, and in short all of the arrangements, both internal and external, are of such kind as to

make the Mansfield Round house a model for all buildings intended for a like purpose.[56]

The ten stalls, each of which contained an inspection and servicing pit beneath the track, were

large enough to hold most engines of that time. The roundhouse was built of massive grayish

460

feldspathic sandstone quarried from a large outcrop of 300-million-year-old Pennsylvanian bedrock

on the site, the irregular pieces of stone being loosely packed and mortared with little regard for

level courses in the style called "random rubble," giving its walls a rather rough-and-ready

appearance. A machine shop attached to its north side measured approximately 30 by 50 feet. In

1893 Old Colony Railroad enlarged the roundhouse.[57] It was torn down in September 1935; I

remember seeing the dilapidated and roofless stone walls prior to that date.

By 1870, measured in terms of route-miles per square mile of area, Massachusetts, which already

possessed the second highest population density (after Rhode Island) of any state, led not only the

United States in railroad development but the world, even England, the mother of railways![58]

More railroads had been built in Massachusetts during the decade of the 1860s than in the previous

ten years, so that by 1 August 1870 the state had 1439 miles of railroad. Extensions of

Massachusetts-owned railroad into adjoining states with their branches amounted to another 688

miles.[59]

Every little bit helps, and on 9 January of that year, the four-mile Attleborough Branch Railroad,

which had been chartered in 1867, joining Attleborough and its village of North Attleborough, was

opened for traffic. The road got off to a crashing start that they probably preferred to forget. At the

end of the maiden run to North Attleborough and following some fairly elaborate ceremonies, the

locomotive was uncoupled from the train and eased ahead onto a spur track. Whether the throttle

stuck open (an occasional occurrence back in steam days) or the engineer underestimated his speed

or overestimated the braking power of the reverse lever is not known, but the locomotive smashed

through a reviewing stand, crossed the street and ended by gouging deep ruts in the lawn of the

Barrows Estate. The spectators who witnessed and were lucky enough to survive this embarrassing

beginning came away calling the Branch the "Whiz Bang Line," and unfortunately for the dignity of

the company's management, the name stuck. On 31 December 1870 the Attleborough Branch was

leased to Boston and Providence for 30 years. Shuttles operated from North Attleborough to the

main line and connected with commuter trains to Boston.[60]

The Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation in 1870 was enjoying a blue-chip period of

unprecedented prosperity – it was said they had so much money they hardly knew what to do with

it. So the surplus exceeding the ten percent allowed by law went into physical plant. New stations

were built all along the line where the old ones had not already been replaced, as had been the case

at Mansfield. One "passenger house" that had served well since it was built in 1835 was the depot in

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Foxborough, now (since the opening of a true Foxborough depot on the line through the center of

that town) officially known as East Foxboro. Boston and Providence decided it was time the

citizens of that village had a new station; or perhaps it was the citizens, not wanting to be left

trailing the folks over in the center of town, who decided. Rather than demolish the old building, in

1869 or '70 the railroad moved it, as was a common practice at that time; it was jacked up and

levered carefully aboard two flat cars and rolled down the track a little over two miles to Mansfield,

where it was slid onto a new foundation near North Main Street (then called Washington Street)

crossing, generally known as Bellew's crossing, and used as a boarding house for railroad

employes.

Before long, the footloose structure was moved again to another nearby site on the north side of

Washington Street, there to be occupied by James Bellew and his family, which included two boys

named Thomas and Patrick. The senior Bellew had worked for the railroad since 1849, first as a

section hand, then section boss, and for the last 19 years, until the company retired him in 1894, as

flagman at the crossing that came to bear his name.

Around 1870 the crossing flagman was named Bancroft. His shanty was an abandoned and de-

wheeled railroad passenger car. "Besides using this for a shelter between trains he turned it into a

sort of store, selling some periodicals and all the Boston daily papers. Although he made his home

with his daughter he frequently slept in the car." As for the former East Foxborough depot, it was

moved later to a third location, and ended its days within my recollection as a railroad paint

shop.[61]

The "new" East Foxborough station, a rather attractively-proportioned one-story building on the

east side of the tracks, also lasted well within my memory before it was replaced by a dinky open-

air shelter not quite as good as the one provided in 1836 by the Taunton Branch for Jacob Deane. At

present East Foxboro has no station at all.

Back in 1866 Boston and Providence had announced plans to widen its right-if-way through

Jamaica Plain so it could expand freight service to the growing number of industries springing up in

the Stony Brook valley. On 13 January 1870 Amory Lowell sold the railroad a long strip of land

7562 square feet in area and lying parallel to the tracks for $13,216. This acquisition doubled the

width of the right-of-way. On this parcel, midway between Heath Street and New Heath Street, a

new depot called, appropriately, Heath Street, was built.[62]

A rare photo taken at Canton (later to be called Canton Junction) about 1870, facing in the

direction of Boston, shows the original wooden station, with a brick addition topped by an odd little

cupola, the Revere Copper Company's horse-drawn passenger coach, and the Stoughton Branch

462

engine F. W. Lincoln. Canton (1870 population 3879), like Mansfield, had a turntable and engine

house, plus a particularly dangerous grade crossing near the station. It was about 1870 that, after

several attempts which failed to "take," a permanent and workable schedule was set up on the

Stoughton Branch that permitted a passenger train to arrive in Boston from Stoughton before 9 a. m.

and a return trip leaving Boston for Stoughton after 5 p. m.[63]

It was in 1870 that the Shore Line Railway completed the next to last link in through train service

along the coast between Boston and New York when they opened a long bridge, having a movable

span, over the Connecticut River.[64]

NOTES

1. Baltzell 1966: 110.

2. Miles of new railroad constructed in the U. S.: 1716 in 1866, 2449 in 1867, 2979 in 1868, 4615 in 1869, 6070 in

1870, 7379 in 1871, or an increase in total mileage from 35,085 to 60,293. Railroad mileage in Mass. increased from

1297 at the end of 1865 to 1480 in 1870 and 1817 in 1875; in R. I., 125, 136 and 179 miles over the same years. (Blaine

1884: 626-7.)

3. Copeland 1931e; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

4. Ozog 1984: 10.

5. Copeland 1931d.

6. Ozog 1984: 8; Bill McLin and Ozog letter in NHRHTA Newsletter Jan. 1992: n. 1, p. 10. The infamous Bussey

bridge in Roslindale also was known as “Tin Bridge.” 7. Thoreau, Journal, 25 Mar. 1860.

8. Ozog 1984: 4. The rusty iron points of some guards were hazardous to humans as well as to cattle, as my father

found when as an over-exuberant barefoot boy he landed squarely atop one of them at the completion of an impromptu

broad-jump at Chauncy St. crossing, Mansfield.

9. A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002. As Levitt points out, a gap exists between 23 Sept. 1866

and 25 Sept. 1871 in the extant official records of the New Haven R. R., during which one might presume that Easton

Branch R. R. operated independently. Levitt writes that "another source indicates the Easton Branch was purchased by

463

the Old Colony & Newport in 1870, with the latter becoming the Old Colony Railroad in 1872." Levitt tells me that

despite the gaps, he prefers the official records.

10. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 32.

11. Chaffin 1886: 760.

12. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 32.

13. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii.

14. Buck c1980: v. 4, p. 263. William was Isaac's brother.

15. Sun Chronicle 30 July 1977; Attleboro quadrangle, Mass.-R. I., USGS, edited 1979; C. A. Brown 1981: 30.

16. LaBounty 16 May 1998.

17. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11, 23, 32.

18. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 33.

19. Appleton 1871: 8; Dubiel/C. Fisher 1919-74: 31-2; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 33, 35; Harlow 1946: 232; Lane

1966: 114; Patton 1988: 19-22. I have (courtesy of R. R. Tweedy) a $500 Mortgage Bond No. 267, headed “State of Massachusetts," of the "Mansfield & Framingham Rail Road Co." payable to and signed by the three trustees Lyman

Nichols, William Thomas and Ebenezer Torrey on 1 July 1869, 7% interest to be paid in January and July. The bond

bears a circular embossed imprint reading "Mansfield & Framingham Rail Road Co. 1867" and is signed by President

E. P. Carpenter, a distinguished Foxborough lawyer and local historian. It reads, "This Bond is secured by a First

Mortgage of the Railroad of this Company with its franchise dated July 1st 1869 made to Lyman Nichols, William

Thomas and Ebenezer Torrey as Trustees as certified on the back hereof and stamped according to the Revenue Laws of

the United States." On the back: "Trustees Certificate. We certify that this Bond is one of the series of First Mortgage

Bonds, described in and secured by a First Mortgage Deed upon the within mentioned Railroad, bearing date July 1st,

1869." This is signed by the three trustees. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 33 says nothing of the merger, but states merely that

the new company was a change in name of the former Agricultural Branch R. R. Co.

20. Lane 1966: 114; q.v. p. 116 for photographs of a locomotive parked at Foxborough and of the depot and vicinity.

I have stereo photos of the latter scene, courtesy of C. S. Fuller. See also photos in Foxboro Reporter 1950 and 28 Apr.

1951, courtesy of Frank H. Alden and Jones Sports Center, Foxborough.

21. Registered belatedly at Bristol Cty Northern Dist. Reg. of Deeds 5 May 1884, v. 421 p. 195; old railroad plan

NYNH&H map 62530 on file at Taunton (courtesy of L. F. Flynn 1998).

22. Copeland 1936-56: 57. This building, later converted to a variety store, burned in May 1876 (ibid.: 58;

Mansfield News 26 May 1876).

23. Ozog 1984: 8.

24. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii.

25. White 1968-79: 178.

26. Rep't of the Directors of Boston & Providence R. R. Corp., 1867. About 1910 the nearly circular roundhouse

was converted by the New Haven R. R. to the first completely covered automobile unloading, storage and shipment

facility to be operated by a New England railroad. This whole site fell victim in 1961 to expansion of Northeastern

University. As a result of a late 1950s surge in enrollments that strained its capacity, Northeastern found it necessary

greatly to enlarge its real estate holdings, and purchased and then leveled the site of the former roundhouse, yards and

shop, on which they built Snell Library, student housing and parking lots. In 2005 no indication remains that this site

ever was used for railroad purposes. (Frattasio 2005: 18.).

464

27. The following Boston & Providence engines appear to have been in service at the end of 1867: No. 1, Norfolk

(questionable); 2, Massachusetts; 3, Iron Horse; 4, Rhode Island; 5, Providence; 6, Neponset; 7, Highlander; 8, W. R.

Lee; 9, Washington; 10, New York; 11, Mansfield; 12, Attleboro; 13, Foxboro; 14, Sharon; 15, Roxbury; 16, Dedham;

17, Daniel Nason; 18, Boston; 19, Commonwealth; 20, G. W. Whistler; 21, A. A. Folsom (built in 1867); 22, Readville;

23, number to be carried by W. H. Morrell, an engine apparently still under construction and put into service in 1868;

24, John Barstow; 25, Gen'l Grant. Three more locomotives were added to the roster in 1868, but even these additions

do not come up to 31. Did B&P possibly stable a few engines belonging to or loaned by connecting railroads? Or did

they count some derelicts that were unfit for service? Copeland (1931c) names several locomotives which she claims

ran "out of Mansfield," one of which is J. I. Ives, for which I cannot account, unless it was an engine of the Foxboro

road.

28. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

29. Copeland 1931e.

30. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii.

31. White 1968-79: 14; Westwood 1977-78: 223.

32. C. Fisher 1938b: 82, 83; Edson 1981: xvii.

33. The puzzling sequence of locomotive numbers, of which I have spoken before, begins in 1865 following the

delivery of No. 20, G. W. Whistler, in November 1864, and ends in 1871 with No. 34, Pancks. Following is a list of the

engines of this period in the chronological order of their entering service:

1865: 24, John Barstow, Griggs.

1866: 22, Readville, Taunton (July); 25, Gen'l Grant, Griggs.

1867: 21, A. A. Folsom, Rhode Island.

1868: 23, W. H. Morrell, Hinkley; 26, Judge Warren, Griggs; 32, Pegasus (ex-Gov. Clifford), Taunton.

1869: 27, David Tyler, Griggs; unnumbered "dummy" Little Rhody, Rhode Island; 30, second G. S

Griggs, Rhode Island.

1870: 28, second Gov. Clifford, Griggs; 31, John Winthrop, Rhode Island; 33, Roger Williams, Rhode

Island; unnumbered Iron Clad, Rhode Island.

1871: Second 5, third Providence, Rhode Island; 29, Paul Revere, B. & P. shops; 34, Pancks, Rhode Island.

Part of the confusion in numbering may have arisen from the death of master mechanic and boss of the Roxbury

shops Griggs in 1870, but it began five years before that date, when Boston & Providence started buying more

locomotives from outside builders than they constructed in their own shops. Probably, as mentioned before, numbers

were assigned in the sequence in which orders were placed for the engines, which arrived and were put in service out of

the sequence in which ordered; even so, it is hard to understand why some deliveries were delayed as much as they

were – for example, three years between Nos. 20 and 21 during which interval engines 24, 22 and 25 were received. See

Appendix A.

34. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

35. Grouped according to year when built: 1846-1, 1848 (rebuilt 1867)-1, 1849-2; 1850-1, 1853-1, 1854-2, 1855-2,

1858-1, 1859-2, 1860-1, 1863-2, 1864-2, 1865-1, 1866-2, 1867-1 and 1868-3. Thus of the 25 locomotives in the known

fleet, ten (not including the rebuild) were ten years old or older and of these one was 22 years old.

36. Copeland 1934d.

465

37. Adams (1835-1915), a grandson of Pres. John Quincy Adams, was graduated from Harvard in 1856. After the

outbreak of the Civil War he joined the kid-glove 1st Massachusetts Regiment of Cavalry (whose roster of officers

sparkles with proper Bostonian names such as Crowninshield, Bowditch, Higginson and Longfellow) as a first

lieutenant 19 Dec. 1861; promoted to captain 30 Oct. 1862; on 5 Apr. 1864 became colonel of the 5th Massachusetts

Regiment of Cavalry, the only black cavalry regiment raised by the commonwealth; resigned from the army 1 Aug.

1865, it is said as a brigadier general, though I find no record in Schouler (1866: 664-669) of his holding such a rank.

After the war Adams devoted himself to the study of railroads, becoming a recognized expert in railway science, and it

was his written and published articles that led to his appointment as head of the railroad commission, on which he

served until 1879. In that year, as mentioned earlier, Adams published a book on railroad accidents which showed that

trains were far safer than stagecoaches, and concluded that the most secure place one could be was in a first-class

carriage on a train in full motion. He went on to become president of Union Pacific R. R. 1884-90. See Harlow 1946

before p. 179 for his heavily-mustached portrait in mature years.

38. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 2, 8. By 1873 only two states, Massachusetts and Illinois, had formed commissions

to supervise the operations of their railroads (Harper's Monthly Apr. 1873: 791).

39. Ozog 1990: 32. The Erie and other railroads probably suffered as a result of a new "Black Friday," 24 Sept.

1869, ushering in a depression that began when famed financier Jay Gould and his buddy James Fiske, Jr., took the Erie

away from Cornelius Vanderbilt. When President Grant realized Gould was buying up gold while at the same time

driving up its price, he dumped federal gold on the market, undercutting the speculators and causing a general crash. I

have seen no evidence that the New England roads were seriously affected.

40. Evidence of J. W. Swanberg (pers. comm. 2000) who writes that, "it does apparently show up in very blurry

background form in a B&P photo of another engine."

41. C. Fisher 1938b: 82, 83; Edson 1981: xvii. I have been tempted to spell out the locomotive's name George S.

Griggs in full, as I did with the first engine of that name, but both C. Fisher (op. cit.: 83) and the editor/reporter of the

Mansfield News (30 Sep. 1881), who personally saw and described the engine, call it G.. S. Griggs.

42. Edson 1981: xvii.

43. Galvin 1987: 7, photo c1870. C. Fisher does not list this in his roster of Boston & Providence motive power.

44. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 71.

45. Taunton Car Co. remained in business only until 1873.

46. Harlow 1946: 232.

47. Erastus P. Carpenter of Foxborough (born in that town in 1822), who preferred to be known as “E. P.,” is described in 1874 as a long-time maker of straw products, president of two railroads and in 1873 chairman of the Mass.

State Railroad Commission (Mansfield News 29 Jan. 1874).

48. Lane 1966: 114; Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 62-3.

49. By 1874 Torrey was a director of Mansfield & Framingham (Mansfield News 13 Feb. 1874).

50. Used in later days as a natural gravity "hump" when switching Mansfield yard.

51. Some of these diesels, operating in multiple unit and bearing the Penn Central logo, managed usually to get

northbound Providence to Framingham trains of as many as 144 cars over the summit at Foxboro. Those that didn't

make it tied up at least four of the town's grade crossings until they "doubled" the hill – divided the train in two and

took half of it at a time to Walpole.

52. NYNH&H 6 May 1943.

466

53. Lewis and Crowell map 1909.

54. NHRAA 1940-52: 36.

55. Mansfield News 15 Aug. 1873.

56. Mansfield News 9 May 1873, the article headed "Friday, May 10, 1870" as though drawn from an earlier paper.

The 290-foot measurement is too large to be the "outer circumference" of the roundhouse and must instead include what

I have assumed was a machine shop, about 50 feet in length, attached to the north side of the main structure. Where and

how locomotives were housed, if they were, before this time I do not know, though the Taunton line owned an engine

shed south of the depot and Boston & Providence had a turntable at least since the 1850s.

57. Copeland 1931f, 1936-56: 71. Miss Copeland states the engine house was built in 1872, but it is depicted on an

1871 map of Mansfield. I have four photos showing Mansfield roundhouse: three when it was in use, from the

collection of J. W. Swanberg; the other, taken 16 July 1929 after the building was abandoned, a Kenneth Warner print of

a negative in the Harness collection deposited with NHRHTA (courtesy of J. W. Swanberg 1999).

58. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 8.

59. Appleton 1871: 7.

60. North Attleboro News-Leader 15 Mar. 1973: 8; Sun Chronicle 30 July 1977; C. A. Brown 1981: 30; Hannan

1999. Several sources, including NHRAA 1940-52, News-Leader 15 Mar. 1973, Humphrey and Clark 1986: 5, 29 and

Ozog 1990: 30 give 1871 for the opening of the Attleborough Branch (NHRAA 1940-52 says Jan. 1871, as does the

Levitt-edited version NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 37), but as Boston & Providence purchased the short line in 1870 it

would seem that that year was the correct one; aside from which my late friend Charlie Brown was a recognized

railroad authority. However, the question is not resolved to my satisfaction. Editor Levitt (op. cit: 37.) seems afflicted

with the same doubts, as he says, "There is no prior information concerning this company in the 'Chronological History.'

. . . Although the company name is spelt 'Attleborough', the station name has been officially spelt as 'Attleboro' . . . ."

Some published accounts have it that the opening-day engine crashed through either the back wall of the roundhouse or

the new North Attleboro depot; the latter supposition may have arisen from the fact that the Attleborough main line

station is said to have been demolished early in its life by a derailed locomotive. The Attleborough Branch folks were

fond of staging such shows, as on 16 Mar. 1882 a new locomotive making its first run over the line “plunged through the round-house” and ended up in a cemetery. It is possible that one of these accidents has been confused with the other;

the 1882 description is the most factual as I have taken it from a contemporary newspaper account written by a

knowledgeable reporter. The Fire Barn Museum in North Attleboro in 1999 had an 1871 flyer advertising trains

"leaving North Attleboro for Attleboro." A later (1903) electric streetcar line that used some of the same right-of-way

was called, from the speed of its trolley cars, the "Gee Whiz Line," with the result that the "Whiz Bang" (steam) and

"Gee Whiz" (electric) often are confused in the public mind.

61. Copeland 1931b, 1936-56: 67-8.

62. Heath 1999. The streets and this station were named for my wife‟s ancestor Gen. William Heath of Roxbury, an associate of Washington in the Revolution.

63. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29; Galvin 1987: 7, 9 (photograph), 11 (map), 14. 64. Turner and Jacobus 1986: 12 (see p. 7 for photo); NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 35.

467

28 – A fine master mechanic is lost

The Boston and Providence suffered a severe blow in 1870 when Master Mechanic George Smith

Griggs died on the 9th of the insufferably hot month of August at the age of 65. He had spent 36

years with the railroad. During that time he supervised the building of 28 locomotives in Roxbury

shops, had secured patents for the firebrick arch, momentum car brakes (which Boston and

Providence used for at least ten years), diamond smokestack and wood-cushioned drive wheels, and

was a pioneer in introducing four-wheel car trucks to replace the early stagecoach-type wheels, and

in the investigation of steam brakes, light tank engines and the use of coal as locomotive fuel. He

was one of the most influential railway master mechanics of his time, and his ingenious innovations

were copied by many other locomotive builders and railroads. Yet having equipped his first engine,

the 1845 Norfolk, with inside cylinders and connections, he was unable or unwilling to break away

from that initial success and throughout his career stubbornly turned out cloned designs that

gradually over the years became outmoded. These engines succeeded in service due to his

meticulous attention to details and maintenance.

The American Railway Times wrote of him: "We know of no single man who has done more to

perfect and advance the details of the locomotive, the car and the truck since the railway was first

instituted in this country." Griggs, a tough act to follow, was replaced by George Richards, who

remained in that post until the Old Colony lease in 1888, causing Charles Fisher to remark in some

amazement, "Thus in its fifty-four years of corporate independence, this road had only two Master

Mechanics and one of them [Griggs, we surmise] was a genius."[1]

Griggs's last locomotive was the second Gov. Clifford,[2] number 28, a 4-4-0 with 66-inch drive

wheels and 17 by 22-inch cylinders, turned out in the months before he died. It is be regretted that

no one knows the disposition of this engine, but it was gone from the Boston and Providence by

1886.

It is unfortunate too that Griggs did not live to see the sudden great increase in the size of Boston

and Providence's locomotive roster that began with the opening of the 1870s. In each of the two

decades of the 1840s and 1850s the railroad had placed 12 new machines in service. During the

1860s they acquired 15 new locomotives. But the decade of the 1870s was to see 24 engines added

to the roster, and from 1880 to 1888 another 37.

Besides Gov. Clifford, Boston and Providence placed three more engines on the road in 1870.

Numbers 31, John Winthrop, and 33, Roger Williams, were 4-4-0 types built by Rhode Island

468

Locomotive Works (construction numbers 184 and 168, respectively), both with 60-inch drivers and

16 by 24 cylinders. Swanberg (1988: 41) shows us a builder's photo of the conventionally outside-

connected and "ornately decorated" Roger Williams with its elaborate painted scrollwork, and

expresses the regret that the Rhode Island works did not hand out color portraits of their handsome

products. The fourth 1870 engine was the little Iron Clad, which never received a number

(apparently this was the custom with some of the engines that were not expected to leave a yard, but

inexplicably other yard goats were numbered), a Rhode Island (construction number 177) 0-4-0

having 14 by 24-inch cylinders and 48-inch driving wheels.[3]

It is odd that Boston and Providence favored the Rhode Island Locomotive Works over the two

engine builders situated in nearby Taunton. The Mansfield newspaper through the 1870s is

peppered with items of interest concerning shiny new Mason and Taunton locomotives rolling

through the junction on their way to other railroads far and near. Sometimes, as these engines

waited for clearance onto the Boston and Providence main iron, the editor/reporter even talked with

the proud engineers and bragged in his paper of the wonderful appearance and design of the

machines. Yet Boston and Providence, though they handled these locomotives in transit, in their

corporate history bought but ten engines from Taunton and only one from Mason, beside Mason's

unwanted monstrosity Janus which a year or two later they tested but chose not to keep.

* * *

It was not in the charter of the Mansfield and Framingham Rail Road to stop short in the

attractive hilltop town of Foxborough, and on 1 May 1870 the 22-mile continuation of the road

through Walpole (forming a "diamond" crossing with the old air line) and Medfield to South

Framingham, which had been slightly more than three years in the making, was completed and

opened to traffic.[4] Foxborough, in a ceremony that recognized its part in the enterprise and no

doubt was inspired by the famed transcontinental golden spike affair of the year before at

Promontory, Utah, was honored by the driving of a solid silver spike in front of the depot, in the

presence of railroad dignitaries from Rhode Island, New York and all parts of Massachusetts.[5]

A car shed with a run-through spur track, built diagonally behind the Foxborough depot, for

several years housed a special passenger coach that daily made the round trip to and from Boston,

469

filled usually with citizens of Foxborough and Wrentham. To ease access to this car house for

stagecoaches that connected to Wrentham, Bird Street was built from Baker Street to Depot Square

(as the vicinity of the station came to be called). There would come a time when 11 passenger trains

a day connected Foxborough with Boston.[6]

Yet even before the silver spike was hammered home, authorization had been granted on 17

March 1870 for the Mansfield and Framingham Rail Road to be leased for 20 years to the Boston,

Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad Company, popularly known as "the Clinton." This lease went into

effect 20 June.[7]

The original charter for the Mansfield and Framingham had called for it be laid to the center of

Framingham, whereas actual construction had stopped short at South Framingham, a mile away.

The management of the Clinton, seeing the work on the new Framingham and Lowell Railroad,

chartered 23 March 1870,[8] advancing in their direction, decided it was high time to act on their

rights before the Lowell road beat them to it, so they laid the requisite mile of track beside that of

the Lowell and opened it for business 31 December 1870.[9] The result was that for years after the

event and even into the 20th century a stretch of unnecessary double track, reminiscent of the ten

miles of duplicate track laid in the West when Union Pacific Irish and Central Pacific Chinese work

gangs met and (their bosses being paid by the mile) passed one another, existed between South

Framingham and Framingham Center.[10] The Clinton now operated "under able management" an

unbroken line from Fitchburg to New Bedford with, however, the Taunton Branch representing a

significant 11-mile missing link which, to mix metaphors, was to prove for two years a bur under

the saddle of the larger road as well as the city of New Bedford and its ambitions.[11] Putting the

finishing touches to this long north-south line, the 26.1-mile Framingham and Lowell opened 1

October 1871.[12]

One of three passenger trains running regularly each way between Mansfield and Walpole was

nicknamed "the Scoot." As evidence that engine movements on the Taunton and Foxborough lines

were not as formally regulated as they might have been, we are told that when the morning “Scoot”

470

arrived at Mansfield station and the passengers had detrained, the engineer, with whatever trainmen

wanted to accompany him, ran the locomotive down the Taunton branch to Chase's crossing (Fruit

Street), sometimes stopping to pick up cronies who wanted a lift, where they parked it on the single

track and wandered over to John Holmes's Mineral Spring Trotting Park, now the site of Mansfield

airport. After tanking up on beer or other refreshments, they climbed back aboard the engine and

backed to Mansfield depot to take the Scoot to Walpole. For a while, Henry Paine, in addition to

running the “New Bedford Express” from Mansfield to Boston and return, also handled the early morning “Scoot” as far as Foxborough; but whether he participated in the unofficial visits to the

Trotting Park is obscured by the mists of time.[13]

Despite these unseemly shenanigans, the Boston and Providence naturally took a lively interest in

the Mansfield and Framingham, and between 1871 and 1873 bought up $15,000 worth of stock in

the road.[14]

Boston and Providence about this time constructed a "splendid wall near the line of their third

track at Hogg Bridge" in Jamaica Plain; the "fine stone" used in it was quarried in Canton near the

cutting works of Franklin Reed.[15]

* * *

As we move into the 1870s the scene shifts briefly from Massachusetts to the Rhode Island end

of the Boston and Providence. The twin towns of Pawtucket and Central Falls had begun to

complain loudly enough to be heard within the railroad's corporate office. The growing town of

Pawtucket had been a textile center since 1789, when a woollen mill was established there; and in

1829 the village's first Roman Catholic church opened to serve the immigrants, largely French

Canadian, who had come to work in the mills. Pawtucket also was on the verge of becoming a

significant port. A channel 75 feet wide and seven feet deep was being dug up the Seekonk River to

reach the town[16] and would be opened after ten years of work in 1877; this would be widened

and deepened after 1883.

Both Pawtucket and Central Falls wanted something done about grade crossings and station

facilities. The crossings were too many and too dangerous; the depots inadequate. Crossings can be

abolished by raising the railroad, as was to be done in Attleboro more than 30 years later, creating a

divisive Berlin Wall; by depressing the streets beneath the tracks, as at Mansfield in the 1950s,

which creates flooding problems; by raising the streets above the railroad on overpasses – this is

471

cheaper, and should have been done at Mansfield, as the bridges need be strong enough only to

support highway vehicles; or by sinking the tracks into a trench with the streets passing overhead.

Any of these solutions is costly and disruptive to highway and rail traffic. An even more expensive

and impractical solution is to move the railroad, for then the question becomes, Who bears the cost?

There already was a cut through part of Central Falls that permitted construction of a few street

overpasses in the 1870s, but to raise all the roads through the two towns was thought to be

impracticable because of the number of steep ramps that would be necessary.

Authorities from Pawtucket and Central Falls argued these points with representatives of the

Boston and Providence for 20 years, with no solution forthcoming; in fact it was to be 1912 before

the problem of grade crossings was resolved by taking the expensive course and relocating the

tracks.[17]

In 1872 Pawtucket got itself a new station more in keeping with its importance. Work on the

structure began in 1871, on the opposite side of the railroad from the old depot. The new station

was a three-story mansard-roof brick building, 90 by 40 feet, with an entrance facing Broad Street.

A shelter was erected on the spot where the former station had been torn down. Neighboring

Central Falls, meanwhile, was trying hard to maintain an identity of its own. In 1871, thanks to a

shift in the town line, it had "moved" from Smithfield to Lincoln (it did not become a separate city

until 1895). Now, keeping in step with its larger neighbor, after having tried since 1863, they

convinced the Providence and Worcester management that their station too was inadequate. The

Worcester road then quit procrastinating; but rather than build a new depot in 1871 they began a

sizeable addition to the old one, which was finished in 1872.[18]

The new 8.01-mile cross-country branch from Attleborough eastward to Attleboro Junction

(during World War II called Camp Junction after the nearby army installation Camp Miles Standish,

long since abandoned) 2.63 miles north of Taunton opened 1 August 1871. Control of this east-west

cutoff immediately was acquired by the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad Company. This line

gave passengers traveling between Providence and Taunton, New Bedford or Fall River an alternate

472

and shorter route than going by way of Mansfield, with its awkward change of trains; it diminished

the importance of Mansfield as a junction and enhanced that of Attleborough. Stations along the

road with their mileages from Attleborough were Bearcroft (in Attleborough) 2.01, Lane's (to be

renamed Chartley on 23 June 1884 after it got its own post office) 3.22, Barrowsville 4.07 and

Meadowbrook, originally called Norton Furnace, 6.45 (these three in Norton).[19]

On 25 September 1871 the Easton Branch was deeded to the Old Colony and Newport Railway

Company[20] which, perceiving the advantages of having a through route to the south as well as a

New York connection via the junction at Canton, absorbed it into a new line from Boston to Fall

River by way of Braintree and Randolph.[21] Old Colony and Newport used the 1854-55 Ames

right-of-way from a point two or three miles north of North Easton but straightened the track so that

the new route crossed the former roadbed five or six times. The Stoughton end they left as a freight-

only line for convenience in handling shipments between the Ames shovel plant in North Easton

and the Providence road at Canton.[22] The Boston and Providence then cut back their own train

service on the Branch to terminate at Stoughton[23] .

Not to be left in the lurch, the Stoughton Branch after 1870 began running extra commuter trains

from Canton to Boston.[24]

* * *

At Mansfield about 1871, depot agent Fred Paine, who for over a decade had lived with his

family on the second floor of the brick station, built and moved into a big house at the southwest

corner of Rumford Avenue and High Street. He was then 42. His younger brother Edward, who a

year or so before was made ticket agent, married and a few years later moved to the station's second

floor. Fred leased Ed the restaurant, which he took over and ran, at first by himself, later with

former freight agent, now passenger station agent, Charles A. McAlpine, while Ed‟s bride Judith took charge of the cooking. When McAlpine moved up to the superintendency of the Old Colony

Railroad's Northern Division, Ed alone ran the restaurant business. After he died in 1894, Judith

continued to at least assist with the eating place until her own death,[25] though by 1876 the depot

eatery was run by William H. Skinner.[26]

Photographs (some of them stereo pairs) of the station made about this time show blinds and

curtains at some of the second floor windows, suggestive of one or another of the Paine families'

home sweet home. The red brick structure still looked as it did when built, long before the New

Haven Railroad later painted it.[27]

473

A map of Mansfield published in 1871 affords us an excellent look at the railroad facilities there.

The Boston and Providence double track main line extends diagonally through town for a distance

of 5.37 miles. Midway of the fill across Murphy's Pond (later Card's Pond, now filled and

converted, typically of the 20th and 21st century, into a parking lot) is a car house with a spur track

into its north end; here, undoubtedly, a coach was stabled that carried Mansfield residents to and

from Boston. The Boston and Providence freight house is shown on the east side of the tracks

immediately north of and accessible from Foundry Street (later West Pratt Street), off Washington

Square. Across the tracks from the passenger station is a pump house, though perhaps not the

attractive brick building later used for that purpose, the windmill of yore having been replaced by a

stationary steam engine.

An undeveloped or private street crosses the single Framingham track immediately north of

Mansfield roundhouse. "Sheds" and two spur tracks are shown opposite and just north.

Wholesale changes in Mansfield street names between 1871 and the present are apt to confuse,

but the map indicates eight main line public grade crossings: at Summer Street, just south of the

Foxborough town line, Washington (now North Main) Street, Foundry (West Pratt) Street, Depot

(Chauncy) Street, Greene (Central) Street, Janes (West) Street, School Street and Elm Street. Gilbert

Street probably crossed over the tracks on a bridge, as it does now. The railroad owned much of the

property between the track and Washington Street from the freight house to the grade crossing.

The Taunton Branch is single track as it enters town from the south until it reaches the curve just

south of the depot, where it swells to two main tracks and one additional. Five grade crossings are

shown, reading from south to north, at Chase's (Fruit Street), Rogers' (Park) Street, Bates' (Court)

Street, Washington Street and Depot Street.

The misnamed "Foxboro & Mansfield R. R." also is marked as a single track.

A dwelling labeled "S. J. Clark" is situated north of the roundhouse; this may have been where

Simeon Clark conducted (according to the map) a cutlery business.[28] Here I should interject that

in 1872 Mansfield lost its popular blacksmith, rail mender and foundryman. Big Sim and his sons

on the second of June – perhaps it was a hot day and they had root beer in mind – were pulling up

sassafras shrubs for their aromatic roots when Sim, tugging at a particularly resistant bush, exerted

his herculean frame beyond its capacity and fell dead. His shop was sold to George E. Wilbur of the

Foxvale district of Foxborough. Later, under a different ownership, this was to blossom into yet

another Mansfield iron foundry served by the railroad.[29]

Jacob Deane's little private station on the Taunton Branch south of Fruit Street in Mansfield,

though not indicated on the 1871 map, remained in use until his death 15 August of that year.[30]

474

A list of "Railways of Massachusetts" printed in 1871 from an unknown publication lists the

following stations in the vicinity of Boston with their mileages, suggesting that a busy Boston

commuter service was then in effect:

BOSTON 0

ROXBURY 2

BOYLESTON [sic] STREET 3

JAMAICA PLAIN 3-1/2

FOREST HILLS 4-1/4

MOUNT HOPE 5-1/4

CLARENDON HILLS 6-1/4

HYDE PARK 7-1/4

READVILLE 8-1/2

GREEN LODGE 10-1/4

DEDHAM BRANCH from Forest Hills to Dedham 5-1/4

DEDHAM BRANCH via Mill Village from Readville to Dedham 2

In 1871 Boston and Providence acquired four new locomotives, one of which took the number as

well as the name of previous engines, and one that was given no number.

Number 29, Paul Revere, was a 4-4-0 built in Roxbury shop with 17 by 22-inch cylinders and 66-

inch drive wheels and a weight of 62,700 pounds

The other three machines were built by Rhode Island. It would be interesting to learn the name of

the literary-minded Boston and Providence official who first decreed that the railroad should name

some of its locomotives for characters in the novels of Charles Dickens, who died 9 June 1870.

Pancks, road number 34, construction number 251, a little 0-4-0 switcher with 14 by 24 cylinders

and 48-inch drivers, was the first of six Rhode Island Locomotive Works 0-4-0 switch engines to be

named for the author whose works if not himself were popular in America.

Next came second number 5, Providence (the third engine of that name), a 4-4-0; construction

number 304, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 60, weight 64,950 pounds; and Useful (let's hope it was!),

no road number listed, construction number 302, another 0-4-0, cylinders 14 by 24, drivers 48.[31]

475

Still another locomotive polished Boston and Providence rails in 1871, and that was Janus. But it

was such a bizarre oddity that I have described it in a separate chapter.

In 1871 Massachusetts Railway Commissioner Edward Appleton summed up: "Massachusetts is

certainly well supplied with railroads, having one mile of railroad to every five and a half square

miles of territory, and to every 954 inhabitants."[32] In that year the distinguished Henry Austin

Whitney of Boston was elected to the Boston and Providence board of directors.[33]

NOTES

1. C. Fisher 1938b: 80; White 1968-79: 36 (q. v. for portrait of Griggs), 452; Swanberg 1988: 36. Griggs‟s momentum brake was tried by several other railroads and though it proved successful, was not widely used.

2. Col. John Henry Clifford was to become president of Boston & Providence in 1873.

3. C. Fisher 1938b: 82, 83, 84; Edson 1981: xvii.

4. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 36.

5. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 32; Copeland 1936-56: 62; NHRAA 1940-52; NRHS 1947: 8; Lane 1966: 114;

NHRHTA May 1980; Patton 1988: 22. The golden spike driven into a laurel tie at Promontory (not Promontory Point,

as so many would have it) has been preserved; but what happened to Foxborough's silver spike?

6. Lane 1966: 114-5. See also ibid.: 168, 173 for views of and in the vicinity of North Foxboro depot and the

nearby trolley car trestle. A stereo view of Foxborough depot in my possession taken probably in the 1870s shows the

car house (courtesy of C. C. Fuller).

7. NHRAA 1940-52; Lane 1966: 114; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: v. 2, n. 1, p. 5; Patton 1988: 22; NHRAA 1940-

52/2002: 36.

476

8. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 36.

9. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 37.

10. NHRAA 1940-52; Patton 1988: 22.

11. Boston Journal in Mansfield News 30 May 1873; Appleton 1971: 8.

12. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 38.

13. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 66, 70.

14. NHRHTA Feb. 1971: v. 2, n. 1, p. 5.

15. Norfolk County Gazette 31 Dec. 1870 in Galvin 1987: 12. The Dedham Transcript of 26 Aug. 1871 notes that

the Boston & Providence Railroad's "Hog Bridge" was replaced by an iron structure. I assume that this was situated

where Center St. crosses Stony Brook, near the Lowell estate.

16. Blackstone River rather confusingly becomes Seekonk River near Pawtucket.

17. Ozog 1984: 11.

18. Ozog 1984: 8-10, q. v. for photo of Pawtucket station under construction and freight house, and a map.

19. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 32; NHRAA 1940-52; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: v. 2, n. 1, p. 5-6; Johnson 1971; News-

Leader 15 Mar. 1973: 8; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 38. This branch came into the news in 2000 as a possible alternate

route for MBTA trains to serve Fall River and New Bedford, with a 2-mile connecting link to Amtrak's Northeast

Corridor near the Attleboro-Mansfield town line. By 2002 this idea, which stirred up ad hoc opposition in Norton out of

all proportion to its significance, had been given up. Fall River and New Bedford formerly had frequent train service to

and from Boston via Taunton and Mansfield but lost it because of too few riders. Norton Furnace was named for

Lincoln‟s iron foundry built on Burt‟s Brook in 1825; the depot was on the north side of the track and west of Eddy St. 20. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 38; A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002.

21. Appleton 1871: 8.

22. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 24.

23. Humphrey and Clark 1986: 29.

24. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

25. Copeland 1931c.

26. Mansfield News 20 Oct. 1876.

27. Copeland 26 Jan. 1951.

28. Town of Mansfield map 1871.

29. Copeland 1934d, 1936-56: 159.

30. Belcher 1938.

31. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 82, 83.

32. Appleton 1871: 9.

33. New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

477

29 – A two-faced monster roams the rails

For about a year in 1871 and '72 a most unusual monstrosity of a locomotive churned its way along

the rails of the Boston and Providence. This was Janus, a double-ender named for the two-faced

Roman god who presided over the finis of one year and the beginning of the next and for whom the

month of January was named.

To dispose of its mechanical specifications at the start, Janus, which though tested by Boston and

Providence was never owned by them and therefore never given a number by that road, was a side-

tank engine of the 0-6-6-0 wheel arrangement having four 15-inch-diameter cylinders with a 22-

inch piston stroke and ground-gripping 44-inch driving wheels. Cylinders and wheels were

mounted on two pivoting trucks which moved separately from the boiler and cab. The engine's total

weight was a whopping 163,520 pounds.

William Mason and Company of Taunton had constructed Janus in 1869 or '70[1] , one source

claims to symbolize the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads in 1869. A more

likely reason is that Mason hoped to popularize the design, which was based on a British patent for

an articulated narrow gauge double-ender built by Robert F. Fairlie in 1865 for the Neath and

Brecon Railway in mountainous Wales. One writer[2] observes that William Mason "frittered

away" or "squandered" so much of his company's developmental energy on "his vanity," the double-

ended type of engine, that other manufacturers of certain kinds of textile machinery, which Mason

also made, grabbed the lead away from him in that field.

Janus essentially consisted of twin locomotives joined back to back, each with its own frame,

drive wheels, cylinders, smokebox, stack and coal bunkers. It even had two bells and two whistles!

Since it was intended only as a short-run pusher and helper engine and not for over-the-road

service, the coal and water capacity was limited. The one feature these Siamese twins shared in

common was a single boiler that passed completely through the central cab, from which the engines

were controlled by one throttle.

The firebox, with a door in the middle, opened sideways into the cab. The engineer sat on the

opposite or throttle side of the cab and the fireman on the side having the coal bunkers (another

writer claims the bunkers were on both sides), with the boiler between them serving as an obstacle

to easy communication.

478

Janus was said to be hard to fire, partly because of difficulty of access to the fuel bunker. One

purported problem was that if the coal in the one or two bunkers was piled too high it tended to

slide into the cab through the front window.

The good points of this peculiar design were a larger than usual boiler and a capacious well-

ventilated firebox, an even distribution of weight, low axle loading permitting the engine's use on

poor or light track, and a short flexible coupled wheelbase. Because the locomotive faced both

ways, it never needed to be turned; in that respect it was like a pair of diesel units permanently

coupled back to back.

William Mason built Janus for the Central Pacific Railroad in the far West, but for unknown

reasons it was not accepted by that road, which probably congratulated itself when it heard how the

engine performed back East. The double-ender was tested on the Taunton Branch between Taunton

and Mansfield 28 January 1870 and again in September, then went to the western part of the Boston

and Albany, whose difficult Berkshire grades seemed made to order for a hefty pusher. But after a

month of vigorous trials, Janus came to Boston and Providence, where it helped shove trains up

Sharon hill. Once again it proved to be another of those good ideas that didn't work. It shoved well

enough, but because of its small bunker and tank capacity it was always running out of coal and

water, and Boston and Providence decided they didn't need it. Mason, disillusioned but still hopeful,

sent the engine to the Lehigh Valley.

That Pennsylvania road bought (reluctantly, it is said) the wandering monstrosity for service on

the mountain grade at Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, giving it the number 164. Here the engine was

used not only as a pusher but as a puller, and pull it could, despite the seeming handicap of only one

power truck working at a time: up to 66 cars, each loaded with six tons of coal. But now the

locomotive's real flaws began to be revealed. The flexible joints of the steam pipes leaked; and

because of lateral overhang and instability problems, speed had to be held down for safety's sake on

curves. Even more dangerous, the engine's great weight made for chancy braking on the mountain.

One day in 1877 during the railroad strike, perhaps with a green crew in the cab, Janus got away

on the steep descending grade of Weatherly Hill, derailed, and rammed the locomotive Tuscarora

heading up an ascending train. From this point Janus's biography becomes a bit murky. Lehigh

Valley archives do not reveal what finally happened to the engine. Two writers say it was retired

after the accident and scrapped in 1877. Other pieced-together and much disputed stories claim that

479

Janus was patched up, painted white with gilt stripes and put to work pulling the Lehigh Valley pay

train. Then, amoeba-like, it was divided in two. One half became an 0-6-0 saddle-tank switcher,

number 3260, which worked the company shops at Sayre, Pennsylvania; the other half was

scrapped except for its boiler, which was used as a stationary heating plant at Perth Amboy, New

Jersey. Or (according to yet another version) Janus was made into two switchers. Whatever its fate

on Lehigh Valley, William Mason's freak engine met with an ignominious end. He never built

another like it

Although Fairlie double-enders were used on mountain grades in Mexico and also in Russia with

apparent long-time success, few more engines of that ilk ever were built in the United States.[3]

Yet what price to be transported via H. G. Welles's time machine back to the hopeful year 1871

for one glimpse of the ungainly tiny-drive-wheeled double-faced Janus shoving a heavy train up

Sharon hill, her fireman bailing black diamonds into the sidewinder firebox under a towering

volcano of coal smoke!

* * *

As double locomotives for a brief time seized the imaginations of some railroaders, so in the

1870s and '80s photographers mastered the art of taking stereo-photographs with double-lens

cameras and printing the twin images side by side on cards for viewing through that common but

ever-fascinating Victorian household plaything, the stereoscope (in my childhood, every attic had

one).

A double photograph of the red brick Mansfield depot taken probably in the 1870s from near the

corner of Main and Depot Streets (now Rumford Avenue and Chauncy Street) shows 15 persons

(probably including one or more of the Paines, though the features are not recognizable) standing in

a row as if posing for their picture. Chilson's Mansfield Iron Foundry looms in the background and

three Taunton tracks with a boxcar show on the right. The station photo and another picture of the

foundry reveal a large woodpile on the west side of the tracks, whether belonging to the railroad or

the iron foundry I have no idea. No grade crossing gates are visible, though I do not know when

they were installed – the first railroad crossing gate (presumably of the hand-cranked variety still

familiar in my youth) is said to have been invented by a Bostonian in 1867[4] and at least one set of

gates was in use at a Mansfield grade crossing by 1876.

A picture of the Mansfield House, a dingy rooming den and watering place later called the

Thomas House (it stood north of the old Taunton Branch engine house), where railroad men away

480

from home would sometimes hang their hats, shows the Taunton tracks in the foreground and dump

car number 52. Still another photo portrays the depot at Foxborough center, in use between 1870

and 1911; just to the right of a standing horse, flat car number 228 can be seen. At least seven wires

drop from a pole to the station building, indicating a telegraph office.[5]

That grade crossings should have been better protected is evidenced when on 15 July 1872, at the

age of just under 41, Isaac Lovell of Mansfield, brother of the locally prominent storekeeper and

former Civil War cavalry captain S. Crocker Lovell who was present at the Appomattox surrender

of General Robert E. Lee, was killed when he drove his team onto a crossing in front of a Boston

and Providence train at East Foxborough station.[6]

* * *

People in the area served by Boston and Providence probably took little if any note of an event

that occurred in Connecticut on 6 August 1872. That was the consolidation, approved by that state‟s legislature, of the Hartford and New Haven and the New York and New Haven railroads to form the

New York, New Haven and Hartford,[7] a corporation that in one more generation would be well

on its way to dominating all transportation in the southern half of New England and would take

over the popular Old Colony Railroad which by then controlled the ancient and honorable Boston

and Providence.

In 1872 Boston and Providence purchased the controlling interest in the Providence, Warren and

Bristol Railroad.[8]

The Boston and Providence placed no fewer than six locomotives in service in 1872, including

the second engine to be named for a character from the works of Charles Dickens and the first to be

called after the chief engineer who built the railroad. This was the largest number of engines

acquired by the company in any year since 1835 and would not be equaled until 1881. All were

built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works. In numerical order they were:

35, Wm. G. McNeill, 4-4-0, Rhode Island construction number 348, cylinders 16-1/2 by 24,

drivers 66, weight 71,700 pounds;

36, Sam Weller (named for Mr. Pickwick's sharp-witted Cockney servant in Dickens's The

Pickwick Papers of 1836-7), 0-4-0, Rhode Island number 379, cylinders 14 by 24, drivers 48;

37, B. R. Nichols, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 384, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 60;

481

38, John Lightner, named after the long-time Boston and Providence master car-builder, 4-4-0,

Rhode Island number 414, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 60;

39, William W. Woolsey, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 476, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 60, weight

60,450 pounds (Woolsey was a former Boston and Providence president);

40, Stoughton, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 475, cylinders 14 by 22, drivers 54. This engine was

placed in service appropriately on the Stoughton Branch. It was the first Boston and Providence

machine to be given this number, and I assume was sold by the time second number 40 was built in

1887.[9]

Some of the older locomotives could step out with the youngest of them when called on to do so.

Griggs's 23-ton 1858 Roxbury, number 15, is reported to have made the 43-mile Providence to

Boston run in 40 minutes, an average speed of 64.5 miles per hour, on the occasion of the 1872

Boston conflagration, with Providence fire engines lashed to flat cars and the red-shirted fire

fighters presumably hanging on for dear life.[10] Since, by a rule of thumb in those days, the speed

of an engine in miles per hour was thought incapable of exceeding the diameter of the drive wheels

(Roxbury's measured 60 inches), this velocity, if true, is even more remarkable.

Some changes were made in the area of the extensive Roxbury yards in 1872. Already, near the

site of today's Northeastern University Snell Library, there existed two brick roundhouses with

turntables for housing, repairing and turning engines. And an old freight house was rebuilt "with a

capacity for housing twenty-four long passenger cars."[11]

* * *

Early in 1873 the weekly Mansfield News was born and from this time on serves as a frequent

valuable source of railroad information. As might be expected of a journal serving an important

junction town in which the railroad provided most of the action, much of the news in the early News

concerns the Boston and Providence and (even more so) the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg – some

issues even carry a special column devoted to major and minor railroad goings-on. Nor does the

News limit its reporting to Mansfield: Attleborough, Foxborough, Norton, Sharon, Taunton and

even New Bedford, Fitchburg and Boston get to say their piece.[12]

Right from the beginning the News could not restrain itself from exulting over Mansfield's

fortunate railroad situation while at the same time trying to sell the town's advantages to the reading

public:

482

Few towns in this Commonwealth enjoy such Rail Road facilities as does ours – none present such

inducements to manufacturers who desire to locate near Rail Roads that they may have easy means of

transportation to all parts of the country. None present inducements to parties who desire to live in the

country and do business in the city; we are within three-fourths of an hour's ride of Boston, half an

hour's ride to Taunton and about the same to Providence and only eight hours from New York.

The writer then totted up some of the industries already happily doing business in Mansfield and

shipping their products out of town by train: Chilson, manufacturer of furnaces, ranges and stoves;

Comey and Company, straw goods and baskets; Andrew E. Whitmore, rifles; Moran and Fulton,

shoe knives and awls; and four thriving jewelry firms.[13] There would be more.

A week later, this puffery was expanded, with a hopeful suggestion for the future:

If somebody could be prevailed upon to erect a large, commodious and convenient hotel somewhere

near the Depot, we believe it would prove a profitable investment. There are hosts of people doing

business and living in the neighborhood cities who during the summer season desire to send their

families into the country in some convenient point, of easy access and having good railroad facilities,

that during the evening the families may be united. No town presents more of such advantages than

does this, and we are confident that such a hotel would be filled with guests as soon as completed.

[14]

Alas, Mansfieldians and their summertime visitors would have to wait until after the turn of the

20th century before a benevolent State-of-Mainer named Walter Lowney built such a fine hotel,

called The Tavern, just across the North Common from the railroad station, to complement the six-

story chocolate factory he erected beside the tracks a short distance farther north, with a siding still

known to railroaders as "The Chocolate."

* * *

The Stoughton Branch Railroad had come under control of the Boston and Providence through

stock ownership. Although this Branch from the start had been an independently chartered road,

Boston and Providence operated it until 1873, at which time it appeared that it would be more

economical for the larger road to own it outright. The paperwork was drawn up, and on 4 March the

Stoughton Branch was merged officially into the Boston and Providence Rail Road

Corporation,[15] which then continued to sweep up smaller roads.

483

That same year, the stocks, bonds and equipment of the Fall River, Warren and Providence

Railroad were sold to Boston and Providence, giving the latter company a controlling interest.[16]

The Fall River road had opened for business in the closing days of the Civil War, 3 April 1865,

between Warren, Rhode Island, and Brayton Point, Massachusetts, on the northerly side of Taunton

River, a distance of about 5.8 miles. This company ran a ferryboat from Brayton Point, now the site

of a huge power plant, to Fall River, that was operated by the Providence, Warren and Bristol

Railroad under a pact that expired 30 June 1865.[17] On 6 October 1873 Boston and Providence

took over control of Providence, Warren and Bristol.[18]

The Mansfield paper reported on 11 April 1873 that "Two new and splendid 'Wagner Sleeping

Coaches' have been placed on the 'Shore Line' [Express] recently, adding greatly to the already

numerous attractions of that line. They are named respectively 'City of Providence' and 'City of

New Haven'."[19]

But railroading has its sad surprises. The “Steamboat Train” from Stonington to Boston was

wrecked near Richmond Switch between Bradford and West Kingston, Rhode Island, at 3 o'clock

on the morning of 19 April 1873 when it ran at full speed onto Meadow Brook bridge which had

been undermined by a washed-out dam just upstream. Engineer William D. Guild of Providence

and fireman George Eldred were instantly killed; 15 passengers burned to death when the first

coach caught fire from an overturned stove and 30 were injured[20] in this tragic accident

immortalized by Bret Harte in his moving poem Guild's Signal.

That the Taunton Car Company was still in business is proved when a color-perceptive reporter

for the Mansfield News of 18 April 1873 noted:

Three new passenger cars passed through here on Tuesday for the New York Central Road. They

were built by the Taunton Car Company, and with one exception were as fine cars as generally pass

through here; the exception was their color.[21]

Unfortunately, the writer does not let us know what the offending color was. This is followed in

the same paper by:

On Tuesday last, Conductor Murphy, with engine Roger Williams, George Frost, engineer, took a

train of 121 cars from Mansfield to India Point.

This was indeed an impressive load for engine 33, Roger Williams, a three-year-old 4-4-0 type

with 60-inch drivers built by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works.

484

But now we hear of a Dodge City shoot-out growing out of some childish fun in the baggage car

of a Providence-bound train running on the Chartley branch:

On Thursday evening, April 17th, John E. White, Baggage Master on the New Bedford and

Providence train, was shot by William F. DeWolf, a Baggage Express Agent on the B. & P. road.

DeWolf's business is upon the regular trains between Boston and Providence, where every one

passing over the road has seen him with a string of checks calling "Checks for your baggage." Upon

this occasion, however, he was upon the train going to Providence over the Attleboro Branch. Shortly

after passing Pawtucket, DeWolf entered the baggage car, when the rear brakeman sportively threw a

quid of tobacco at him. He savagely accused Mr. White of the act and refused to accept his denial.

After some words DeWolf was jokingly ordered from the car, and subsequently some force was used

in a "fooling" manner to eject him. On passing through the door into another compartment of the car,

DeWolf drew a revolver from his pocket and shot White, the ball lodging in the upper part of his arm.

The conductor arrested DeWolf, and upon arrival of the train at Providence he was placed in charge

of city officers.

White is in the hospital at Providence, but is doing well.[22]

The News of 2 May, Friday, reports an incident occurring about a mile north of Hyde Park:

On Wednesday last, the engine drawing the New Bedford train leaving Boston at 4.35 P. M. and due

at Mansfield at 5.20, stripped a valve at Clarendon Hills, disabling itself and delaying the train about

an hour and a half.

Another minor mishap occurred at Attleborough on 4 May:

A slight accident happened to the Sunday night "Shore Line train" from Boston; as it approached the

station the coupling between two of the cars gave way and the forward part of the train left the rear

some little distance behind, but breaking [sic; braking] up too suddenly caused a slight collision

which damaged the bunters of three cars and caused them to be left at this station. We understand that

there was no loss of life or injury to persons.[23]

In Sharon the locals folks, even as today's commuters, were less than pleased with their train

schedules:

By the new arrangement of trains on the B. & P. R. R., we are provided with one more train into

485

Boston daily, leaving Sharon at 2.55 p. m., while the last train from Boston at night leaves at 6.25,

nearly an hour later than previously. This arrangement will hardly prove acceptable to the many

boarders who visit our town, but will better accommodate mechanics. What we really need is both

trains. Could we have the advantage of these and with them the privilege of the 2 o'clock train from

Boston, the hearts of our people would be greatly cheered.

Mansfield riders also nursed some long-unsatisfied gripes:

A petition with the signatures of several hundred voters of this village, praying for a reduction of fare

and the sale of "package tickets" was a long time since presented to the President and Directors of the

B. & P. R. R., but since that time we have failed to notice in print or otherwise that any action had

been taken thereon.

The new train between Boston and Providence created quite an excitement here yesterday and with

our increased facilities for travelling the demand for "package tickets" becomes more urgent, and in

our opinion would be productive of an increased revenue to the railroad company.

East Foxborough residents had reason to look on the bright side, however, as it was noted in the

News that their depot was being painted.[24]

The summer of 1873 brought a severe dry spell, and Mansfield people saw a rerun of the fires of

the 1830s that so riled Elijah Dean. On 21 June sparks from the stack of a locomotive touched off a

woodland near the home of coal dealer S. S. Wilbur and came close to burning several buildings;

while on the 26th another blaze near several houses in Foxborough, started by sparks from an

engine, not only burned some grasslands but destroyed six or eight apple trees. [25]

The best that Boston and Providence could seem to come up with in this period of thriving freight

business was a wreck reminiscent on a smaller scale of the New Haven Railroad's farewell pileup of

15 December 1968 near Canton Junction. This derailment happened on 4 August south of

Attleborough:

An accident occurred to the way freight of the Boston & Providence Railroad at 3.30 o'clock, Monday

afternoon. . . .

A short distance from Hebronville, in a deep cut, by the breaking of an iron in a dump car, the ten

cars of the train were completely piled one upon another. Two wrecking trains soon arrived, the first

under charge of Supt. Folsom, and labored for hours in clearing the track. During the time of the

obstruction, trains were coming up upon both sides of the wreck, until there were gathered a "Tin

Kettle" train, an Excursion train, and the Shore Line train upon the one side, while upon the other

486

were the Stonington boat Express, Fitchburg, the B. & P. new boat, and half a mile of freight cars

waiting orders at Mansfield. Passengers were delayed until late into the night, but we are thankful to

be able to record that there was no loss of life.[26]

It was as if this wreck prophesied the financial train wreck that soon followed. On the heels of

the euphoria of the post-Civil War years, 1873 brought another and particularly severe downturn,

the Panic of 1873, featured by unemployment and lowered wages. This depression laid waste many

industries, paralyzed the nation for five years and was followed by a period of flat economy. That

summer, business had been dull, money tight and credit overextended. Attempts by financier Jay

Cooke to raise $100 million for the Northern Pacific Railroad resulted instead in default on the

railroad‟s bonds, the bankruptcy of his large, well-established firm and the closing of his banking

houses for lack of funds. All this triggered a precipitous downfall on 18 September. On the 20th,

panic swept the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which within a month shut down for ten

days; 57 other stock exchange firms closed, wiping out more than 5000 commercial enterprises in

the United States – in the period that followed, 18,000 businesses, including most railroads, went

bankrupt – and leaving a million industrial workers without jobs. It was the most painful slump the

United States ever had experienced, far exceeding the "Panics" of 1837 and 1857.

One indication of it, reported the Mansfield News in November, "was a continuing problem of

homeless vagrants stowing themselves in empty boxcars at the train station, and making early

morning raids on nearby homes for food. A letter to the editor, signed anonymously by 'Many

residents,' proposed building lockups near the train tracks to house tramps overnight."[27]

One Mansfield man who tried to reverse the downward trend was Charles H. Williams. Owner

of a large tract of land adjoining a Boston and Providence Rail Road siding a half mile from

Mansfield freight house, in an admirable location for manufacturing purposes, Williams offered to

give any desirable quantity of it up to six acres to a manufacturer who would build a shop or start

any kind of business there.[28] Whether anyone took him up on his offer I do not know.

Yet one would never suspect the existence of a financial panic from the zeal with which Boston

and Providence entered on the planning and building of new passenger stations. Attleborough's third

depot was opened in 1873, the previous station being moved to a site at 84 Park Street where by

1938 it served the Chester Shoe store, though it had been many times altered; two stories were

added atop the original one-story building.[29] And a grand new terminal depot for Boston also

was in the works.

487

Rogerson and Brother of Mansfield gave the sagging economy another vote of confidence when

they erected a new grain mill beside the Taunton tracks with a capacity of 2000 bushels of corn and

500 barrels of flour and a superior handling ability. A trough led from freight cars parked on a

siding into the building and from there an elevator hoisted the corn or flour to the upper levels.[30]

This grain elevator, of which nearly every New England town had one, burned spectacularly in

1917 and was replaced by the grain elevator that a few years ago was converted to apartments. By

late spring 1874 the Rogersons were erecting a grain warehouse on Taunton Branch land just north

of King's coal shed; Mansfield builders L. M. and H. G. Hodges were doing the work.[31]

But Providence became the locus of the greatest agitation for the erection of new facilities. For

many years the citizens, municipal authorities and railroad officials had tried but failed to reconcile

their conflicting and varying interests by coming to an agreement on the best means of improving

the city's awkward and unhandy terminal arrangements.

Tefft's Union Station completed 25 years before on Exchange Place had been split into two

halves divided by a public drive leading to the Cove promenade. The west head house belonged to

Boston and Providence, the east part to Providence and Worcester. Because of the danger posed to

the public by the moving trains, the drive was abandoned and the open space filled by a connecting

building, of which the ground floor was used for a restaurant and news depot and the second floor

for offices and quarters for trainmen. To further complicate matters, the former Hartford,

Providence and Fishkill Railroad, on 26 August 1863 deeded to and renamed the Boston, Hartford

and Erie, [32] also shared the westerly building, and the new New York and New England the

easterly. But not every railroad entering Providence enjoyed accommodations in Union Station: the

terminal of the Providence and Springfield, which opened in 1873, originally situated in outlying

Olneyville, had been moved to Gaspee Street, a half mile west of Union Station; and the

Providence, Warren and Bristol terminated a mile south, near the old Boston and Providence depot

at India Point.

None of these companies had enough room for their freight yards and buildings, and as the

crowding got worse year after year the convenience of firms doing freight business with the

railroads also started to suffer.

As rail traffic increased, the Boston and Providence and the Providence and Worcester began

looking into the feasibility of widening their joint roadbed between Providence and Pawtucket and

adding tracks. It was realized, however, that this proposal was like those 20th and 21st century

488

highway-widening projects that end by creating more of a traffic bottleneck than they prevent (the

Germans have a nice word for this: schlimbesserung, an attempted improvement that makes things

worse); it did not promise to ease the terminal crowding and inconvenience.

In 1873 Providence mayor Thomas A. Doyle appointed a commission which was given the job of

resolving the seemingly insoluble problem of uniting the city's scattered and unconsolidated

railroad facilities. The hope was that the various operations could be brought together in one

terminal building affording adequate means for streamlining the handling of passengers and freight.

The railroad companies, not to be outshone, themselves brought forth a plan for enlarging the

existing Union Station by adding new tracks, platforms and shelters on filled Cove lands in rear of

the depot. This economical solution, which basically was done some years later anyway as a

makeshift answer to the problem, got rejected out of hand. It was decided, for instance, that the

approach ramps for overhead bridges proposed for some of the streets would be too steep to be

practicable for horse-drawn vehicles.

The Panic of 1873 effectively put the kibosh on these plans, initiation of which was deferred for

eight years, and in fact it was to be twenty years, during which time a plethora of ideas was laid on

the table, before the Providence terminal problems were resolved.[33]

* * *

The year 1873 ended with a crash of another kind as a wrongly set switch resulted in an engine

demolishing several cars and the turntable at Canton station on 20 December.[34]

Panic or no, Boston and Providence continued (and ended) their locomotive-buying spree in 1873

with the purchase of five new engines, all of which received previously unused numbers. The first

four were built by Rhode Island, the fifth by the railroad itself in its Roxbury shop – and therein lies

a tale. And another engine – old number 8, W. R. Lee, built in 1853 – was scrapped after being

bashed in a collision.

The new locomotives were:

41, Mark Tapley, 0-4-0, Rhode Island construction number 474, cylinders 12 by 22, drivers 48;

42, Micawber, 0-4-0, Rhode Island number 523, cylinders 14 by 24, drivers 48;

43, George Richards, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 526, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 60;

44, Moses B. Ives, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 617, cylinders 16-1/2 by 24, drivers 66;

45, Viaduct, 4-4-0, Boston and Providence shops, cylinders 17 by 22, drivers 66, weight 62,700

pounds. This engine, like the old woodburners, had brass tubes and a copper firebox, and was said

489

by a man who fired it to be "very steady to ride on."[35]

Commenting on Number 43 was the Mansfield News of Friday, 11 April 1873, whose editor or

reporter was sufficiently impressed to tell us:

One of the finest Engines now running on the Boston & Providence R. R. was put on the road last

Friday for the first time. It is one of the finest looking engines we ever saw, and has all the modern

improvements; it was built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works and is named in compliment of the

master mechanic of the road, Mr. George Richards, who may well be proud of the honor.

Yard switchers Mark Tapley and Micawber were the third and fourth Boston and Providence

engines named for Dickens characters, the latter for Mr. Wilkins Micawber, the feckless optimist

whom Dickens in his 1849-50 novel David Copperfield modeled after his own father.

The oddly-named Viaduct was a kind of mechanical memorial to late master mechanic George

Smith Griggs, who staunchly championed inside-connected engines for twenty years after the

design had become old hat. Not only was it the last locomotive built in Roxbury shop,[36] it was

the last Boston and Providence machine with inside cylinders and motion, the main rods turning a

crank on the front driving axle. All the commercial locomotive builders in the United States long

ago had given up on this antiquated design.[37] Yet Viaduct, thanks to good maintenance, remained

in service for 19 years.

After 1873, the locomotive-buying splurge of Boston and Providence petered out. During the four

years 1870-1873 inclusive the road had put 20 new engines in service; in the next six years

following the “Panic” they acquired only five. It was to be 1881 before the company embarked on another such motive power ordering spree.[38]

490

NOTES

1. Kelso (1958: 28) says incorrectly that Janus was built for Boston & Providence in 1871. Solomon (undated)

also states it was built in 1871 but for Central Pacific R. R.

2. Lozier 1986: 239, 522.

3. Scientific American 4 Sep. 1869: 148 in White 1972: 30, q. v. for a full-length drawing of the engine without,

however, a railroad name painted on its side tanks; C. Fisher Dec. 1943, q. v. for a partial builder's photo showing the

roomy central cab with the boiler passing through it, two steam domes and two sand domes, and the name Janus

lettered on the sides of the tanks on each half of the engine; Kelso 1958: 28-30; Anon. Jan. 1965; Westwood 1977-78:

87, 205-6. Both C. Fisher and Westwood also say the engine was built in 1871. J. Parker Lamb (Why steam stalled:

Railroad History, no. 188, spring-summer 2003, Railway & Loc. Hist. Soc., p. 75) shows a small side elevation drawing

of Janus labeled "William Mason's double-end locomotive, 1871." Pictures of Janus are easily available “on line.”

It took Mason a while to disabuse himself of his fondness for the Fairlie type. Few if any railway historians have

recognized that in Oct. 1881 the Mason works sent an engine “of the Fairlee [sic] pattern” to the Central of Iowa Railroad, which previously had purchased several Mason locomotives. The Iowa road was so dissatisfied with the

Fairlie that Boston & Providence Superintendent A. A. Folsom granted leave to one of his railroad‟s top engineers, John Burnham, to travel to Iowa and test the Mason machine. Burnham, when he returned, reported that the “stupidity” of a switchman allowed the engine, in which he was riding, to collide with some stationary freight cars, with no injuries to

persons but considerable injury to the locomotive. The ultimate disposition of this last(?) of the Mason monstrosities is

unknown to me (“Freight” in Mansfield News 7 Oct., 2 Dec. 1881)..

4. Wilkie and Tager, eds. 1991: 130. In my boyhood North Main St. on the Taunton Branch was the most

thoroughly gated crossing in town, with six gates, three on each side of the track, some of them so tall their upper ends

were hinged to duck under the utility wires. All were lowered and raised by one well-muscled man turning a single

crank. Ring-shaped iron counterweights were added when the gates became loaded with snow. At dark, the gate tender

hung red oil lanterns along their length.

5. Photo-copies of these stereo pairs were given me by C. C. Fuller in 1968, who told me, "If you can identify

them, you can have them." Mr. Fuller, who retained the originals, believed they were shot about 1890, but the absence

of the slip switches shows that the pictures were taken before installation of the interlocking plant in 1887-88. The

Mansfield House photo is reproduced in McNatt and Todesco 1998: 61. In Lane 1966: 116 is a reproduction of this

same photo of Foxborough depot.

6. Repts of Mansfield selectmen and treasurer for year ending 10 Feb. 1873); Buck c1980: v. 1, p. 16.

7. Harlow 1946: 191.

8. Bayles 1891.

9. C. Fisher 1938b: 83, q. v. for photo of B. R. Nichols; Edson 1981: xvii.

491

10. Swanberg 1988: 36, who gives the year as 1870. Help in fighting the blaze, which began the evening of 9 Nov.

1872 in a hoop skirt warehouse and destroyed 60 to 65 acres and 776 buildings from Summer St. north nearly to State

St. and from Washington St. east to the waterfront, came by train from as far away as New Haven and Biddeford, Me.;

firemen and their equipment were brought by train from Worcester, 45 miles in 50 minutes (Harper's Monthly Jan.

1873: 296, 311, Weston 1957-58: 132). One hopes that the Providence fire fighters also brought their own horses; most

of Boston's fire equines were down with the epizootic so that the engines had to be pulled by men. Railroad lore is

replete with heroic tales of fire apparatus being rushed to major conflagrations aboard special trains (see Hubbard 1945:

124-133, the chapter "Smoke eaters").

11. Holton 1998. Holton claims this building was used later to ship and store automobiles, but Frattasio says

correctly that the nearby former 1867 roundhouse (Holton says two roundhouses) was the structure so used.

12. The Mansfield News of the time reflects the fact that the railroad was the biggest show in town, and unless the

researcher plans to spend the rest of his life at the library microfilm viewer, most items – the abrupt demise on the track

of a favorite cow or somebody's pet setter, the sailor who bailed off a moving train and was found lying drunk but alive

beside the rails, the latest goodies at the station restaurant, the youthful telegraph hobbyists who hitched a wire to

Foxboro depot, the gold-headed cane awarded a 30-year employe by his friends, the horses frightened by locomotives

into causing sensational runaways, the farm wagon demolished by a train (shades of Jacob Bailey!), Fred Paine's lost

and then found overcoat, the ticket agent's clock collection – must be omitted.

The reader will notice that from this point my history becomes much more Mansfield-oriented than before.

13. Mansfield News 28 Mar. 1873.

14. Mansfield News 18 Apr. 1873.

15. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 34; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: bull, v. 2, n. 1, p. 4; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 41; A. M.

Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002.

16. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 41. Brown (1993: 5, 6) says Fall River, Warren & Providence was acquired by Boston

& Providence in 1874 and that on 1 Dec. 1875 the line became part of Old Colony. Bayles (1891) gives the date of B&P

acquisition of FRW&P as 1873.

17. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 31-32.

18. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 43.

19. Mansfield News 11 Apr. 1873. The Shore Line was a crack Boston & Providence express train, later to be

nicknamed the "lightning train" (in the News always with lower case initial letters).

20. Mansfield News 25 Apr. 1873.

21. But Taunton Car Co. was not in business for long; in 1873 it was forced into bankruptcy as a result of allowing

its railroad customers to pay for their rolling stock with worthless “paper.”

22. Mansfield News 25 Apr. 1873.

23. Mansfield News 9 May 1973. The standard warning for "train has parted," a not uncommon happening in those

days, was a lantern swung in a full arms'-length circle by any railroader who witnessed the event, answered by three

long blasts of the engine whistle. These warning signals have been deleted from today's rulebooks because modern

trains seldom part at speed and if they do the "fail-safe" air brakes usually bring the parts to a stop.

24. Mansfield News 23 May 1873. By "mechanics" is meant workingmen. "Package tickets" perhaps were similar to

the later book tickets used by daily commuters.

25. Mansfield News 27 June, 4 July 1873.

492

26. Mansfield News 8 Aug. 1873.

27. White 1968-79: 26; Weller 1969: 10; Mansfield News 27 June 1873, reprinted 20 Mar. 1998; 20 Nov. 1998,

"125 yrs ago." (The expression “train station” betrays the intervention of a modern re-writer.) Some of these

unemployed wanderers who drifted in and out of town aboard freight trains were dangerously belligerent, and even the

keeper of the Mansfield almshouse had to defend himself from an attack by gun-toting tramps whom he had taken in,

while others threatened householders who refused to provide them with food, money or other assistance.

28. Mansfield News 14 Aug. 1998, "125 yrs ago."

29. Belcher 1938: No. 1.

30. Mansfield News 13 Nov. 1874; 13 November 1998, "125 yrs ago."

31. Mansfield News 12 June 1874.

32. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 29.

33. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 7-8, 11-12; Ozog 1984: 10.

34. Norfolk County Gazette 20 Dec. 1873 in Galvin 1987: 12.

35. C. Fisher 1938b: 83, q. v. for photo of Viaduct; Edson 1981: xvii; Galvin 1987: 9, 10 photos of Viaduct c1875

from R&LHS collection (photo on p. 9 is reversed); and Swanberg 1988: 41. The comment on brass tubes and copper

firebox is from Harry S. Moy of Jamaica Plain, Mass., who fired the engine in 1886 (courtesy of J. W. Swanberg, pers.

comm., 2003. See White 1968-79: 99 for brass tubes, which after their introduction in the U. S. in 1851 became very

popular but were given up because of their greater cost than copper tubes and lack of ductility in flanging, and op. cit.:

103-4 on copper fireboxes, which, though previously popular, had been abandoned by most U. S. railroads in the 1860s

because of their cost and short life).

36. The last major locomotive work (rebuilding, reboilering) at Roxbury shops was performed in 1904, and between

then and completion of the new large shops at Readville in 1907 the Roxbury facilities were gradually phased out

(Swanberg 1988: 51).

37. White 1968-79: 209; Swanberg 1988: 41.

38. At the end of 1873 the following 45 locomotives appear to have made up the roster of Boston & Providence,

though whether all were in active service cannot be determined:

No. 2, second Massachusetts (built by Griggs in 1846!); 4, the rebuilt Rhode Island; second 5, third

Providence; 6, second Neponset; 7, Highlander; 9, Washington; 10, second New York; 11, Mansfield;

12, Attleboro (ex-King Philip); 13, Foxboro (ex-Ariel); 14, Sharon; 15, second Roxbury; 16, third Dedham;

17, Daniel Nason; 18, second Boston; 19, Commonwealth; 20, G. W. Whistler; 21, A. A. Folsom; 22, Readville;

23, W. H. Morrell; 24, John Barstow; 25, Gen'l Grant; 26, Judge Warren; 27, David Tyler; 28, second

Gov. Clifford; 29, Paul Revere; 30, second G.. S. Griggs; 31, John Winthrop; 32, Pegasus (ex-Gov. Clifford);

33, Roger Williams; 34, Pancks; 35, William G.. McNeill; 36, Sam Weller; 37, B. R. Nichols; 38, John Lightner;

39, W. W. Woolsey; 40, Stoughton; 41, Mark Tapley; 42, Micawber; 43, Geo. Richards; 44, Moses B. Ives;

45, Viaduct; unnumbered Little Rhody; unnumbered Iron Clad; unnumbered Useful.

493

MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD

AND CONNECTING LINES

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Part Five

Harry B. Chase, Jr., 2006

___________________

30 – The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg

Even though earlier in this history a chapter was devoted largely to the Taunton Branch Rail Road,

the idea that another chapter should be given over to the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad

Company, otherwise known simply as "the Clinton," may seem off the track. But as the Taunton road

proved an increasingly valuable adjunct to the Boston and Providence, so did the Clinton play a

significant role in the history of the Providence road which it intersected at Mansfield, and its rapidly

growing freight business, mostly to and from the west, at times seemed to dominate that of the older

line.

494

Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg reminds one of some of those railroads whose grandiose names

ended in "Pacific" (Missouri Pacific, Texas and Pacific) that got nowhere near the Pacific Ocean,

because despite its name it never came within 20 miles of Boston.

Originally formed in northern Massachusetts, the Clinton was backed ultimately by New Bedford

interests who wanted a unified rail line from their seaport into the interior and thence connecting to

the west, while the Boston forces behind Boston and Providence and its two seaport terminals

initially did their best to cut off the new upstart at the pass. At first conception the two railroads

appeared to be rivals operating at cross-purposes to one another. But as things were to work out, the

traffic, both freight and (to a lesser degree) passenger, that was bought into Mansfield over one set of

rails frequently ended up on the other, to the considerable benefit of both.

To recapitulate: The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg was an outgrowth of the Agricultural Branch

Railroad chartered 26 April 1847 to run from Northborough, Massachusetts, to a spur of the Boston

and Worcester at Worcester. On 1 December 1855 the Agricultural Branch opened a line from

Framingham Center to Northborough which was operated by the Worcester road, and in July 1866

they put into service a track from Northborough to Pratt's Junction in the town of Sterling. The

Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad Company was chartered 17 April 1867 as a name change of

the Agricultural Branch.

Meanwhile, a few miles to the south, the Foxborough Branch Rail Road, as we have seen,

received a charter 26 April 1862 to lay 8.5 miles of track from the junction at Mansfield north to

Walpole. This road was taken over 18 March 1867 by the Mansfield and Framingham Railroad

chartered on that date to build an extension from Walpole north to the Agricultural Branch (which a

month later became the Clinton) at Framingham. The Clinton itself expanded by consolidating with

the existing Fitchburg and Worcester 1 July 1869.[1]

The following year on 17 March authorization was granted for the Clinton to lease Mansfield and

Framingham for 20 years; this lease went into effect 20 June, before which time, on 1 May, the

Mansfield and Framingham had opened its line to the latter town. Almost simultaneously the

Framingham and Lowell was chartered 23 March to build a road between those two cities, 26.1

miles, connecting with the Clinton in Framingham. This line opened 1 October 1871. A one-mile

extension of Mansfield and Framingham commenced operations from South Framingham to

Framingham Center (or "Centre," as it sometimes was spelled) on the last day of 1870.[2]

The year 1871 seems to have been a breather during which the managements of these assorted

railroads gathered steam for a major push toward consolidation. On New Year's Day 1872 the

Clinton's 20-year lease of Mansfield and Framingham was extended under an authorization granted

495

by the state of Massachusetts in 1870 to 50 years, although the actual joining of the two lines didn't

take place for another two years. Later in 1872 the Clinton grabbed the Framingham and Lowell as a

logical extension of its own road.[3]

Now let's switch scenes to the southeast corner of Massachusetts. Another corporation that threw

its hat into the ring was the Old Colony Railroad Company, chartered 27 March 1872 and formed by

changing the name of the Old Colony and Newport Railroad 1 October 1872.[4] Late in 1872 New

Bedford interests, anxious to see an increase of business on their wharves, began to push for a

unified railroad line from tidewater in the Whaling City into the northern interior of the state to meet

important connections from the west.[5]

The initial step in this campaign was the separate chartering on 11 February 1873 of the New

Bedford Railroad Company, whose purpose was to bring about a consolidation of all the roads

between that city and Fitchburg, and the Boston, Fitchburg and New Bedford, intended to

consolidate the New Bedford with the Clinton. This twin birth was followed on 20 March by the

New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road Corporation being deeded to the New Bedford Railroad,[6]

whose officers were mainly the same as those of the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg which also

controlled the Mansfield and Framingham, the Framingham and Lowell and the new Acton and

Nashua that was nearing completion in New Hampshire.

The one missing link or (in the minds of New Bedford folk) obstacle in the way of completing

this grand unification scheme was the 11-mile Taunton Branch. To review the history of this short

line, it was opened from Mansfield to Taunton in August 1836, and right off signed a useful contract

with Boston and Providence for the transportation of freight and passengers to Boston via Mansfield.

Anyone could see from the start, however, that Taunton Branch was aimed in the direction of New

Bedford, and on 13 April 1838 another road, the (original) Old Colony Railroad Corporation was

chartered to lay track from the Taunton Branch's southern terminus to the Whaling City.

This ephemeral Corporation, not to be confused with the later and more familiar Old Colony

Railroad Company that was to spin a web of rails over southeastern Massachusetts, had its name

changed to New Bedford and Taunton with the chartering of that company on 26 March 1839.

On 2 July 1840 New Bedford and Taunton opened the New Bedford Railroad as far as Taunton

and negotiated an operating agreement with Taunton Branch that permitted through train operations

to Boston by way of Mansfield.[7]

Taunton Branch and the New Bedford and Taunton together on 16 April 1847 acquired the rights

to the 5000-foot-long Weir Branch chartered that same day to run between Weir Village in Taunton

and Old Brewery Wharf, the entire length of which was discontinued some time after 1872,[8] but

496

this minor acquisition was irrelevant to the unification theme.

All of which was perhaps not quite as confusing as the kaleidoscopic machinations of the cross-

country air line route, but complicated enough! Mansfield, occupying as it did the railroad

crossroads of southeastern New England (as now it is the highway crossroads), found itself at the

eye of this hurricane of activity.

The rationale behind all this past and present wheeling and dealing became evident to Bay State

lawmakers and the public when on 7 April 1873 a "bill for extending the Mansfield & Framingham

railroad from Mansfield to Taunton, received a rebuff in the Railroad Committee of the Legislature .

. . . The opposition appears to come mostly from Boston, which doesn't like to see a good deal of

country trade diverted from that port, wanting to monopolize everything, and no better proof than

this is wanting to show the benefits of the new arrangement in this city [New Bedford], and those it

proposes to accommodate." A New Bedford paper concluded in rather a threatening tone of voice, "It

won't do for the Legislature to prevent consummation of the arrangement."[9] This indefensible

notion of a duplicate railroad paralleling a line already in existence was to surface again nine years

in the future, for the same specious reasons and between the same two stations. It was the kind of

thinking that led eventually to the great withering of superfluous railroad lines that was to come.

In the spring a railroad's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of corporate merger and control, and the

Taunton Branch, like a holdout maiden, suddenly found itself courted from all sides, as the New

Bedford Railroad, the Boston and Providence and the new Old Colony all bid for ownership of the

little line. The New Bedford Standard[10] reported:

The directors of the Taunton Branch Railroad had a meeting Thursday to consider propositions for

the purchase of that road. The meeting was adjourned without taking any action.--

We understand that beside the New Bedford Railroad Company, the Boston & Providence and the

Old Colony are both bidders. If the road goes to other parties New Bedford parties will build a road

between Taunton and Mansfield under the general railroad law, if a grant for that purpose cannot be

obtained from the Legislature.

In plain language, if the New Bedford suitors failed to win the coy heart of the Taunton Branch so

as to bring it under their control they were going to build a parallel duplicate line! "We are not to be

corked up so easily," the harpooners sputtered.

By this time the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg operated 140 miles of road in Massachusetts. As if

in anticipation of what was to come, activity at the Mansfield crossing point with Boston and

Providence had increased. The Clinton and its end-to-end connections now provided sparse but

497

reasonable passenger service: in April 1873 passenger trains of the Clinton road southbound from

Fitchburg arrived at Mansfield at 11:15 a. m. and 3:47 and 7:45 p. m., the first two runs continuing

on to New Bedford; while northward trains from Taunton got to Mansfield at 7:00 a. m. and 2:02 and

3:20 p. m., thence going on to Fitchburg.[11]

This new arrangement already was beginning to show results, because on 9 May 1873 the

Mansfield News noted the passage through that town three days previously of a "stock train" of 48

cars loaded with cattle, bound for Providence from the west.

In addition to the above, later in the day, 10 more [cars] came down loaded with stock for Providence,

Taunton, and Middleboro. So much freight is now coming over the B. C. & F. R. R. that extra engines

have to take back the empty cars.

Two stock trains consisting of 31 long cars loaded with cattle came over the B. C. & F. R. R.

Tuesday, arriving at Mansfield at 6.15 A. M., bound for Providence. The B. C. & F. is making freight

move lively.

The locomotive "Foxboro," which used to put up at Mansfield over night now runs from

Fitchburg through to New Bedford. Evening trains leave Fitchburg and Lowell, uniting at South

Framingham at 6.50, and reaching Mansfield at 7.15, when they again divide, the "Foxboro" taking

the Lowell division of the train to New Bedford, and the "W. R. Lee" the Fitchburg division to

Providence.

The News took an optimistic (over-optimistic, as it shortly was to turn out) view of the financial

climate as it observed a bit smugly:

We can remember when Mansfield was a sleepy looking town. This, however, was years ago – since

then the new railroads have come in and given increased facilities to manufacturers. The steam

whistles are heard almost every minute of the day, and often in the night, trains pointing in every

direction are gathered around the station and no sooner does one depart than another dashes up.

Each day scores of passenger trains run to Boston, Providence, Taunton, Foxboro, Framingham,

Fitchburg, Worcester, Lowell, New Bedford, or New York.

These arriving and departing trains, said the News, were "keeping our 'Fred' [Paine] in a state of

constant activity."

Facilities at Taunton were being enlarged "under the direction of Mr. E. H. Bryant of Mansfield:"

The work of building a second track between Taunton and Weir Junction will begin to-day, it having

been found that a double track will be necessary to accommodate the trains that are proposed to be

run this season. The distance is about one mile.[12]

498

One gets the impression in reading these early issues of the Mansfield paper that the new Boston,

Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad was the most exciting game in town, for far more about that road

appears in print than of the stodgy Boston and Providence. The News, quoting an article from the

Boston Journal by way of New Bedford, tells us on 30 May 1873:

A new train has recently been added on the M. & F. [Mansfield and Framingham] R. R., which runs

clear through to New Bedford. It leaves the Foxboro depot at 7.40 p. m.

The prevailing topic of remark in the past six months has been the prospect of a through line of

railroad from New Bedford to the interior of New England, and the consequent increase of business

on our wharves.

New coal piers were under construction on the New Bedford waterfront to allow the direct

shipboard import of fuel from other states, and rail facilities in the city were being correspondingly

enlarged. But the Taunton Branch still held fast to its role of missing link. The Clinton was finding

"some difficulty in getting control of this" which, if it could not be bought or leased, would mean

construction of a second railroad between Mansfield and Taunton. Because of New Bedford's great

increase in coal imports it was thought that before long, double track might have to be installed all

the way from New Bedford through Mansfield to Framingham.[13]

Business certainly was booming on the Framingham line at Mansfield. The News reports in italics

that on Wednesday, 11 June 1873, "two hundred and fifty freight cars were at Mansfield Station

ready for the B. C. & F. R. R." and that this was "the largest number of cars ever brought together at

this station."[14] On Saturday the 14th 266 cars waited at Mansfield to be forwarded, requiring five

extra freight trains to be dispatched during the day in addition to the three regular freights, and still

there were cars left over.[15]

"We think that Mansfield can well boast of being the railroad center of south-eastern

Massachusetts," the News sounded off, ever conscious of the truth that Mansfield was struggling to

keep abreast of its up-and-coming neighbor Taunton.

In the last week of July, 75 cars of livestock came through Mansfield from the north off the

Clinton road, headed for slaughterhouses near Providence,[16] while in August 260 carloads of

freight were forwarded north from Mansfield in one day and on the 11th of that month the

locomotive Wm. A. Crocker, engineer Isaac Wood, drew 139 freight cars from Mansfield south to

Taunton in one train, in charge of conductor L. Leonard.[17] The other side of the coin was

represented by complaints of Mansfield townsfolk that freight trains were unnecessarily blocking

grade crossings while switching.[18]

499

On Monday, 30 June, a gaggle of dignitaries and railroad officials gathered at New Bedford to

celebrate the completion of the New Bedford Railroad's one-mile addition from the city to the

Steamboat Wharf. A golden spike was produced and someone of importance, wielding a golden

sledge hammer, drove it into a tie in which undoubtedly a hole had been pre-drilled. This important

little connection was opened for business the following day.[19] But still the obstinate Taunton

Branch remained, in the eyes of the Whaling City, a spanner in the works.

The Branch now was suffering belatedly from growing pains as business exceeded its track

capacity:

Passengers over the Taunton Branch R. R., who have lately been annoyed by the delays and

occasional loss of connection with other roads, caused by the frequent meetings of long trains on

short turnouts, will be pleased to learn that such delays will no longer exist. The late rapid increase of

business over this line, occasioned in part by the extended operations of the Boston, Clinton and

Fitchburg Road, is responsible for these temporary annoyances, but Mr. Swasey, Superintendent, is

meeting the requirements of the situation by ordering such extensive additions to the side tracks as

will allow the longest trains to pass each other without trouble or delay. Mr. I. Allen, Section

Foreman, informs us that he has just added 500 feet of track at "Cranes," making that turnout 1200

feet in length, also 1400 feet at Norton which will make a turnout of 2200 feet. In addition to the

above, this week Mr. Allen commenced an addition of 800 feet to the long turnout at Mansfield,

making a continued line of side track, at this point, of 1700 feet.

We trust these extensive additions will soon culminate in a double line of track from Mansfield to

Taunton.[20]

The progressive Clinton road was responsible in August 1873 for the first cabooses ever seen at

Mansfield, though the News reporter who spotted them was baffled as to their purpose:

The B. C. & F. Railroad Co. have lately placed a new kind of car upon their lines, intended to run in

connection with their freight trains. These are of somewhat smaller dimensions than a single freight

car, are painted a bright vermilion color, and are called by some "cabooses" and by some "Pick-ups."

Judging from the latter name we should naturally suppose that they were intended for the

accommodation of passengers whom necessity might require to leave a station on a freight train's

time [but maybe they are for] freight train brakemen.[21]

On Tuesday, 19 August, the first shipment of coal from the New Bedford piers was hauled through

Mansfield. Next day the Clinton road, not to be outstripped by the senior line, staged a collision in

500

Mansfield yard. A freight from Lowell arriving at 8:30 p. m. failed to pull far enough into a receiving

track, leaving its last car fouling the main, and was struck by the midnight freight from Fitchburg. A

"cylinder end" was cracked and the cab torn off the Fitchburg engine.

At about this same time the "smart little switching engine" Washacum was transferred from the

Clinton's Mansfield yard to South Framingham and its place taken by the Acushnet.[22]

In Taunton, the New Bedford Railroad built an imposing new freight depot in 1873, just north

of the passenger station and facing Oak Street.[23] And in Mansfield, a petition bearing "a large

number of signatures" was displayed in S. Crocker Lovell's store at the center of town, addressed to

the management of the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad and reading, "We the undersigned,

citizens of Mansfield, respectfully petition that a passenger station may by you be established upon

the Taunton Branch Railroad at East Street in Mansfield Center, as the location of the present depot

is inconvenient to a large majority of the business portion of the town, and, we believe, the erection

of a depot at said point would prove advantageous to the railroad and the traveling public."[24] This

proposed depot would have been only a bit over a half mile south of the existing Mansfield station, a

little too close to be practically and economically viable.

Despite that fall's financial recession, freight business over the Clinton continued to grow. The

Mansfield News reported that 210 freight cars moved from that town on 30 September followed by

another 225 the next day, and that 180 cars were left over that night to be hauled out the following

day. On 3 October 289 cars went north from Mansfield over the Clinton, and on the night of Tuesday

the 7th, conductor Kelley of the 9 p. m. Boston and Providence freight took 125 cars from Mansfield

through to the old Providence terminal at India Point.[25]

Along with surging business went injuries. A Taunton Branch "breakman" of only a few days

experience, while coupling cars on the 8 o'clock freight near East Street, Mansfield, was badly hurt

when caught between two cars and was taken to Taunton for medical treatment. And Clarence White

of the Boston and Providence suffered what perhaps was the commonest injury to trainmen in those

days of the link and pin coupler when a finger on his left hand was crushed while hitching cars at

Mansfield, necessitating amputation at the middle joint.[26]

It was not until 16 January 1874 that New Bedfordites could breathe easier, because on the

previous day, at a meeting of Taunton Branch stockholders called to act upon a report of the

directors' committee, the vote was unanimous in favor of consolidation with the New Bedford

Railroad under the name of the latter company, the stock of which recently had sold at $102 per

share. This union was effected on the 16th, on which date the Taunton Branch ceased to exist as a

separate corporate entity, ending 37-1/2 years of independent operation. About the first thing the new

501

company did was to raise rates on their line except between Taunton and Mansfield. [27]

The Mansfield and Framingham at their annual meeting in South Framingham on 11 February

reported good news. They had wiped out their loss and "commenced the formation of a surplus. The

gain of the year carried to the surplus is equal to $3.08 per share; and the entire loss of the first two

years, amounting to $11,905.30, has been made up from the earnings."[28]

On Saturday evening, 25 April, 125 "long cars" destined to be shipped north were at Mansfield

station, and to prevent a "blockade" on Monday two extra freights were run Sunday over the

Mansfield and Framingham, while the aforesaid "smart little switching engine" Washacum, having

returned from its several months of duties in South Framingham, was at work throughout the

Sabbath in Mansfield yard. Wednesday morning, to make the cheese more binding, the harried

Clinton yard men accidentally ran a heavy car loaded with bark into the turntable pit at Mansfield

engine house, blocking rail access to the roundhouse for two or three hours.[29]

Thanks to all the new freight business, things continued to happen at Mansfield. The News

reported in mid-May that "Mr. Whitman, of the B. C. & F., is putting down two additional side

tracks, aggregating some 1000 feet, and the New Bedford road is adding another 1800 feet in

length." The Clinton also was about to erect a new "Tank-house" for filling engine tenders, to be

situated on the bank of Rumford River north of the roundhouse, and by 17 July they had started

taking water from a new tank at the north end of the yard.[30]

The Clinton still used some wood-burning locomotives, because they set up another wood yard

and shed near the junction at Mansfield for the use of their engines. Here the wood at first was sawed

by horsepower, but later a boiler was installed and the saw was run by steam.[31] But the

Mansfield News noted on 31 July 1874 that the Clinton had stored in their engine yard more than

5000 tons of bituminous coal for use as locomotive fuel, a glance at which might form "some idea of

the enormous business done by that road . . . ."

The New Bedford and the Clinton roads combined were now regularly hauling coal trains from

New Bedford piers by way of Framingham to Worcester.[32] During the week ending 16 May,

"1551 freight cars went forward from Mansfield over the B. C. & F." Such movements did not

always go smoothly, however. Because of a switch set wrong at the north end of Mansfield yard, two

freight cars were ditched the morning of 20 May, knocking down a signal pole and tying up the

Clinton main line until nearly noon.[33]

To prevent collisions at the crossing of Boston and Providence with the Boston & Albany,

formerly Boston & Worcester Railroad on the Back Bay flats just outside Boston, the diamond was

protected “by G. F. Folsome‟s box signal with blinds in two directions, only one of which could be

502

displayed at a time.”[34]

A major change came to the Mansfield and Framingham Rail Road Company when Boston and

Providence sold its interest in that line, which it had bought for $15,000, to Boston, Clinton and

Fitchburg for only $6000. Following this sale, in a logical next step on 1 June 1875, the six-year-old

Mansfield and Framingham was formally absorbed by the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg, the

resulting consolidated road retaining the name of the latter company.[35]

In the first week of July the enlarged Clinton put a new daily passenger train in service,

connecting at Mansfield with the Stonington boat train. This run left South Framingham at 5:36 p. m.

and on its return departed Mansfield at 6.55 a. m., reaching South Framingham at 7:40. Some of the

accommodations offered the public by the Clinton line were rather elegant; the southward train

following the new run to Mansfield included a drawing room car named Plymouth.[36]

In April 1876 the directors of the New Bedford Railroad Company convened in New Bedford for

the purpose of choosing a committee to confer with officials of Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg

regarding a consolidation of those two up-and-coming roads. And on 1 June (but we will come to

this further on) the Clinton road did consolidate with the New Bedford line and took the mouth-

filling name of Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford.[37] The new corporation, totally in the

hands of New Bedford capitalists, now controlled (it was reported) 127 miles of railroad earning

between $8000 and $9000 per mile. It was thought likely that the headquarters of the road would be

removed to the Whaling City[38]. The ambition of New Bedford business interests to have a unified

railroad extending from their saltwater piers to northern Massachusetts and a strategic connection

with the West was at last to be realized.

503

NOTES

1. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11, 23, 32, 33.

2. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 36, 37.

3. Harlow 1946: 232-3.

4. NHRHAA 1940-52/2002: 39, 40.

5. New Bedford correspondent of Boston Journal in Mansfield News 30 May 1873.

6. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 42; Harlow 1946: 233.

7. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 6, 7.

8. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 11, 12.

9. New Bedford Mercury in Mansfield News 11 Apr. 1873.

10. Reprinted in Mansfield News 2 May 1873.

11. Mansfield News 11 Apr. 1873.

12. Mansfield News 9 May 1873. Weir Junction is 0.98 mile south of Taunton.

13. Mansfield News 30 May 1873.

14. Mansfield News 13 June 1873.

15. Mansfield News 20 June 1873.

16. Mansfield News 1 Aug. 1873. Despite Mansfield's blowing off, Taunton was now a busier railroad center than its

one-time wannabe imitator, and Canton's rail-oriented industries were at least as busy as Mansfield's. The car blockade at

Mansfield reminds one of a familiar complaint of freight train crews: that when in a freight yard you couldn't get out and

when out you couldn't get in. Solving this perennial problem was in large part up to hassled yardmasters (called by some

admirers or critics "ringmasters").

17. Mansfield News 15 Aug. 1873.

18. Mansfield News 4 July 1873.

19. Mansfield News 4 July 1873; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 42..

20. Mansfield News 1 Aug. 1873. Cranes station was situated 2.02 miles south of Norton and 4.16 miles north of

Taunton. By the 1940s it was no longer listed in NYNH&H employe timetables.

21. Mansfield News 8 Aug. 1873.

22. Mansfield News 22 Aug. 1873. BC&F engine 2, Washacum, was an inside-connected 4-4-0 built by Hinkley in

1850. Acushnet, New Bedford & Taunton 26, an 0-4-0, was built by NB&T in 1852 with a boiler supplied by Taunton

Loco. Wks. (Edson in C. Fisher R&LHS Apr. 1938, bull. 46, p. xvi).

23. Levasseur 1994: 16, 28; photos in ibid. on p. 28, 29, 35.

24. Mansfield News 26 Sept. 1873, reprinted in News 2 Oct. 1998. Mansfield still had not quite adjusted to the

"out-of-town" location of its depot.

25. Mansfield News 3 Oct., 10 Oct. 1873.

26. Mansfield News 14 Nov., 28 Nov. 1873.

504

27. Mansfield News 9 Jan. 1874 from New Bedford Mercury, 16 Jan. 1874; NHRAA 1940-52; North Attleboro

News-Leader 15 Mar. 1973: 8); NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 43. Fisher/Dubiel 1919/1974: 32 seems to say (if so,

incorrectly) that Taunton Branch became part of the New Bedford R. R. 1 Feb. 1854. Sup't of TB R. R. in 1872 was

William Merritt, whose name appears on a pass granted him by Boston & Maine R. R. (Barrett 1996: 42).

28. Mansfield News 13 Feb. 1974. The directors elected that day were E. P. Carpenter, H. A. Blood, George A.

Torrey, George E. Towne, Otis Cary, Boston & Providence sup't A. A. Folsom, H. N. Bigelow, Jonathan Holbrook,

J. Henry Elliot and Andrew B. Pierce. Carpenter and Cary lived in Foxborough.

29. Mansfield News 1 May 1874. Did “long cars” indicate cars with two four-wheel trucks?

30. Mansfield News 17 July 1874.

31. Copeland 1931f, 1936-56: 65. I have noted before that as late as Oct. 1876 the Clinton passenger engine

Northboro was converted from burning wood to coal (Mansfield News 27 Oct. 1876).

32. Mansfield News 15 May 1874.

33. Mansfield News 22 May 1874.

34. Steele 1875.

35. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 31; NHRAA 1940-52; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: bull. v. 2, n. 1; NHRAA 1940-52/2002:

44.

36. Mansfield News 9 July 1875.

37. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 43-45.

38. Mansfield News 14 Apr. 1876. A previous reference claimed 140 miles for the Clinton alone.

505

31 – Railroading's golden age

Two of the most eminent railroad writers of the 20th century claim that "the golden age of New

England railroading" began in the early 1870s and lasted for another three decades, until the bland-

looking but sharp-tongued Charles Sanger Mellen, backed by the almighty J. Pierpont Morgan

(nicknamed by his critics “Pierpontifex Maximus”), wrecked the blue-chip New Haven Railroad in

the early years of the 20th century.[1] Perhaps so; but the authors in their enthusiasm for the classic

locomotives turned out by Yankee builders of the time seem to have forgotten about the Panic of

1873, the reverberations of which lasted well into the following decade and caused Massachusetts to

be filled with huge numbers of "tramps" whose boldness and proclivity for bumming free boxcar

rides and thieving annoyed both railroaders and householders[2] . Perhaps the alleged gold was only

a surficial gilding; all that glisters is not necessarily golden.

Backtracking a bit from the previous chapter devoted to the Clinton, we note that Boston and

Providence, having brought its motive power roster up to strength, continued in spite of the recession

to spend gobs of money. In 1873 the first steel rails were put down on a part of the line[3] and in

1873-74 a third track was laid from Boston to Readville for the purpose of separating local and

through trains. (Today there still are only three tracks between Back Bay station and Readville,

though a few decades previously there were four.)

A Boston and Providence timetable taking effect 1 September 1873 lists passenger trains leaving

Boston for Providence at 7:30, 10:30 and 11:10 a. m. and 2:00, 4:00, 5:30 (the daily “Steamboat Train”), 6:25 and 9:30 p. m. Trains left Providence for Boston at 4:15, 4:30, 7:00, 9:15 and 10:50 a.m. and 2:00, 4:15 and 7:40 p. m. Mansfield was the only intermediate station at which all trains

stopped (those from Boston at 8:40, 11:40 and 11:55 a. m. and 2:50, 5:00, 6:22, 7:20 and 10:15 p.m.;

trains from Providence at 5:00, 5:20, 7:50. 9:57 and 11:40 a. m. and 2:42, 5:05 and 8:17 p. m.). The

“Steamboat Train” reached Providence at 7.05 p. m. in time to connect with the 7.12 departure

reaching Stonington at 8:57.

Five trains in each direction between Boston and Providence were labeled "Express." The fastest

made the 43-mile run in 1 hour 25 minutes. In addition a Sunday mail train left Boston for

Providence at 9:30 p. m. and its opposite number departed Providence for Boston at 1:00 a. m.

Monday. A local train left Mansfield for Providence daily at 6:15 a. m.; this was the so-called “Tin

506

Kettle Train” that carried workmen and their capacious lunch pails to blue collar jobs, reaching

Providence at 7:05. Trains were scheduled also on the Dedham, Stoughton and Attleboro Branches.

Boston and Providence, which listed Frederick Douglass's friend and defender ex-Governor John

Henry Clifford, who wore muttonchop whiskers and spectacles, as President and A. A. Folsom as

Superintendent, still maintained a close relationship with the Stonington to Providence railway,

which just recently had put into night service between Stonington and New York's Pier 33 at the foot

of Jay Street "the new and magnificent Steamer" Rhode Island; this boat was an addition to its

regular steamers, Stonington and Narragansett.[4]

By this time, however, Old Colony and Newport Railroad, about to be restyled Old Colony, was

beginning seriously to muscle in on the Boston to New York steamboat service by carrying

passengers on a deluxe train the 68 miles from the Hub to Newport, whence they could embark

aboard either of two "splendid Steamships" for the Big Apple.[5]

The same day that the Taunton Branch directors quit stonewalling and voted in favor of

consolidation with the New Bedford Railroad, Thursday, 15 January 1874, a driving snow storm

beginning before dawn and lasting ten hours left eight inches on the ground and delayed passenger

trains at Mansfield for from 15 minutes to a half hour.[6] This was followed in the last week of

January by another storm which resulted in "Freight cars gathered in an almost interminable line, at

the Mansfield turnouts . . . ."[7]

In those days, railroad semaphore signals for controlling train movements were not commonly in

use. Instead, at each station or junction a 30-foot mast was erected, having sheaves or pulleys at top

and bottom through which was strung an endless rope. This mast might stand alone or it might be

placed atop a lighthouse-like tower called a "ball house."[8] Suspended from the rope was a large

egg-shaped "ball" made of basket material, three feet high and two and a half in diameter, usually

covered with canvas and painted black. When the track in advance of the signal was known to be

clear, the agent pulled the rope that hoisted the ball to the top of the mast; hence the common

American term "highball." A ball lowered to the bottom meant "Stop."

At Lane's or Skinner's crossing halfway between Mansfield and West Mansfield, Adoniram J.

Skinner owned a basket shop. Among his products were railroad signal baskets. The lightweight

baskets were frequently damaged by wind, so production was fairly large, and in the Mansfield area

Skinner seems to have enjoyed a monopoly on making them. A Mansfield News item in February

1874 noted that Skinner had "just finished an order for 100 signal baskets for different railroads."

Many of Skinner's orders came from Mansfield station agent Fred Paine. When Fred needed baskets

he clapped on his tall black silk hat, swung aboard a locomotive and had an engineer run him a mile

507

and three-quarters down to Skinner's factory. Approaching the crossing he told the engineman to

hold down the whistle cord. This warning served to notify Adoniram Skinner that Paine wanted

baskets pronto.[9]

Paine had added troubles when on 14 February he proved that even experienced railroad men can

get careless:

Last Saturday, while Mr. Fred. Paine, Station Agent at Mansfield, was watching a train that had just

passed, another train of twelve cars, that was switching, struck him in the back, just below the

shoulders, and threw him some ten feet from the track. Mr. Paine was not seriously injured, but he

had a narrow and most fortunate escape.[10]

Some Attleborough citizens resorted to repeated vandalism over what they viewed as a trespass on

their rights:

A few weeks since the selectmen authorized the Boston and Providence Railroad Company to place a

fence and gate at the crossing of the Attleboro' [Branch Rail]road, thus reducing the width of the

passage way, but rendering the crossing much safer to man and team. This was considered an

infringement of the right of travel, and during the darkness of night the fence and gate were

demolished. Another gate was promptly erected, but promptly removed, and a third was erected, by

the company, and destroyed. Suits are to be brought for damages against the parties who committed

the depredations, if they can be ascertained.

The problem was solved simply by stationing flagmen at this and another crossing.[11]

Attleborough in March 1874 continued in the news as the result of a collision on the main line that

wrote finis to one of Boston and Providence's best-known engines:

On Saturday afternoon, 7th inst., as the train for Fitchburg was approaching this station from

Providence, the engineer discovered a switch misplaced, and immediately reversed his engine, but the

impetus of the train carried it on to the side track where it collided with a freight train, smashing

freight cars and damaging the engine, the W. R. Lee.[12]

508

The veteran engine number 8, W. R. Lee, named for Boston and Providence's distinguished former

superintendent, was retired and scrapped following this accident, after 20 years of service. It's "last

energies were expended in handling the Fitchburg train between Mansfield and Providence, and in

switching around the Mansfield yard."[13]

It was reported in the Mansfield News on 24 April 1874 that an extra train from Taunton took

passengers from the “Shore Line” and “Steamboat Express” trains at Mansfield in the morning and connected with the same trains at night.

The Mansfield paper reported in April 1874 that "Two sticks of timber covering three platform

cars passed through Mansfield [on the Taunton Branch] the previous Tuesday. They were each 90

feet in length and four feet through the but [sic], and were intended [as masts?] for a schooner being

built in New Bedford."[14] And Boston and Providence engine number 11, Mansfield, a 19-year-old

Taunton-built 4-4-0 that normally handled the Mansfield to Providence “Tin Kettle” run, had been "laid up" for repair of a broken eccentric strap (a part of the reversing and valve gear), so the Clinton

road kindly lent its engine G. E. Towne until the ailing locomotive could be fixed. The same paper

took note that "Mr. George S. Foster has just received four car loads of lumber from the North [over

the Foxborough branch] to be used in the several dwellings he was building." The builders L. M. and

H. G. Hodges had also received loads of timber for a proposed new foundry.[15]

More freight business promised to come to the Boston and Providence in 1874, as during May,

construction of William Bird's 42-by 80-foot Central Foundry, with a wing 12 feet by 20, was under

way on "South Central street" adjacent to the west side of the tracks in Mansfield. In it Bird installed

a ten-horsepower engine for a blower furnace capable of turning out four tons of metal daily. Bird,

an iron molder whose foot was horribly crippled from being burned by molten metal in an English

foundry, had come to Mansfield in 1856 to work in Chilson's furnace company more than a half mile

up the tracks. By mid-summer his new foundry had begun the work of general jobbing and the

Mansfield News of 17 July noted that the Central Iron Foundry was "turning out some superior

castings." Bird shortly took sick, however, and died in December. Ownership of the foundry went to

his widow Maria, but the actual work was taken over by two nephews, Joseph E. and William H.

Rider, who carried on until 1910.[16]

In mid-May the News told its readers that "Mr. Hamblet is making preparations to put down a long

side track on the east side of the B. & P. road above Main Street crossing."

509

The spring weather remained dry; Boston and Providence engines in the second week of May had

set two fires between Mansfield and East Foxborough, though damage was "trifling."[17] Worse, on

14 May 1874 at 2:30 in the afternoon the Mansfield passenger station caught fire, from what cause is

not recorded. The town had no organized fire brigade, and the result was a determined volunteer

effort on the part of railroad men, waiting passengers, neighbors and friends, who removed ticket

master Paine's goods before they could be damaged.

Luckily the blaze was discovered before it had time to gain headway and though there were some

in town who would have preferred to see the ugly building burn to the ground, as Taunton depot had

burned a decade ago, an ad hoc team of passengers and nearby citizens with buckets, axes, picks and

garden force pumps saved the structure by dint of hard and intelligent work, so that damage was

minor. The only fire-fighting apparatus on hand at first was evidently an extinguisher which was no

more effective than a squirt gun. But Foxborough, always well to the fore in the matter of fire

fighting, owned a steam pumping engine and when news of the blaze was received there by

telegraph, the pumper was hauled proudly and heroically over the three miles of highway by a gang

of panting men and boys, but arrived only in time to extinguish what little remained of the fire.

Station agent Fred Paine, to return the favor the best he could, had the pumper ramped aboard a flat

car and rounded up a locomotive to haul it and its weary crew back up the hill to Foxborough.

A number of holes had been axed in the shed roof of the depot, and Fred, while inspecting the fire

damage (whether with or without his silk topper is not recorded), fell through one of them and was

so badly cut by broken glass from the skylight that he had to be taken to a doctor. Another Paine,

300-pound West Mansfield soap manufacturer R. (for Rufus) Jinks Paine, ruined his clothes in the

fire-fighting effort and sent the bill to the town, which, perhaps perceiving him as a pain of still

another sort, never paid him a cent.[18]

In July the Boston & Providence, in a classic case of securing the stable after the horse had

decamped, furnished Mansfield depot with 100 feet of fine-quality linen fire hose which could be

hitched to a force pump in case of another blaze.[19]

The first appearance of George Westinghouse's new automatic brake in Mansfield occurred the

same day as the depot fire:

Conductor Martin's train came out from Boston last evening, equipped with a new attachment to the

Westinghaus [sic] brake, the object of which is to automatically set the brakes whenever by accident

the train is broken apart, or any car in the train runs off the track. For some unexplained reason the

operation of the brake was not quite satisfactory, the train being delayed some minutes at the station.

[20]

510

The evening of 16 May saw some excitement on the Chartley road when three freight cars, two of

them carrying ship timber, being loaded at Lane's (later Chartley) station got away and rolled down

the slight grade at five or six miles per hour toward Barrowsville. At that depot, the oncoming

runaway was spotted by the agent and a section gang in time for the gang boss to swing onto one of

the cars and set the brakes while another threw a switch to divert the cars onto a side track only

minutes before the 5:19 p. m. passenger train was due.

A couple of track hands assigned to the Mansfield-West Mansfield section had some unusual

excitement of their own the following day, a Sunday. While David Flahaven and James Bellew were

returning to Mansfield aboard their handcar that morning the sleeve of Flahaven's blouse caught in

the machinery, "twisting it and an arm around the crank, one foot was fast between the wheels, head

down," so that it was hard to tell "where the car left off and the man commenced." Bellew's yells for

help attracted Mark Janes, who lived in a nearby house and rescued the man. Bruises and strains

resulted, but no broken bones.[21] In a similar accident, West Mansfield's Elwood Grover's loose

linen "duster," a popular over-garment of the time, became tangled in the gears of a moving handcar

he was riding. The Mansfield historian notes that luckily Grover was not seriously injured and there

was "no lasting damage to anything but the duster. It was not, however, a pleasant experience for

Grover."[22]

On Monday, 18 May, Boston and Providence put a revised schedule into effect. The “Shore Line Express,” which until that date left Boston at 11:10 a.m., would now depart at 11:45, arriving at Providence at 1 p.m., making no intermediate stops. Though faster than the previous schedule (it

became known as “the lightning train”), this was not startlingly rapid time, being an average of a

little over 34 miles per hour; the saving in time appears to result from this being the first scheduled

train to pass through Mansfield without stopping for passengers and water, which means that the

engine assigned to the run must have been equipped with a larger tender. Previously this train had

handled in its consist New Bedford cars which were detached at Mansfield and taken on to the

Whaling City by an engine of that road. Now these New Bedford cars would leave The Hub as a

train of their own at 11:10 a. m.; in the opposite direction they departed Mansfield at 5 p. m. A new

express freight now left Boston for New York via New Haven at 7 p. m., and on its return pulled out

of Providence at 2:30 a. m.[23]

It would seem that the roof of Mansfield depot was inadequately repaired, because it was reported

to leak worse than before the recent fire. In the rain of 21 May, "Ticket master Paine was completely

drowned out of his office, and was obliged to suspend the sale of tickets during part of the day." It

was not until 12 June that the Mansfield News reported that roofers had finished with the station.[24]

511

Maybe as a result of the depot fire or subsequent roof leakage, or else envious of a proposed new

Boston terminal, the News editor wrote rather plaintively in spring of 1874, "We hear it intimated

that the Railroad Company will soon be petitioned to give us a little better depot accommodations,

the need of a ladies-room being seriously felt. This is known to be the only town on the road that has

not been provided with a neat and convenient station house, and as we are the last to grumble, we

will be the last served."[25] Mansfield depot (which would remain in use until 1952) was then only

14 years old and already patrons were dissatisfied!

One result of the dry spring was reported at Mansfield on 29 May:

The B. & P. Co. are driving tube wells in and near the tank-house. They propose to drive them 60 or

70 feet deep, and to put down enough to supply their engines with water, instead of taking it from the

stream, as at present.[26]

Previously the water was pumped from the convenient Rumford River by a large windmill which,

if a photograph of a similar contraption at Attleborough[27] is any criterion, resembled a futuristic

space craft or an escape from a 21st century wind farm, with an impressive set of vanes 15 or 16 feet

in diameter and a 25-foot-long tailfin, mounted atop a railed platform supported on four sturdy posts.

The appearance at Mansfield in May 1874 of the Clinton‟s first self-propelled paymaster‟s car created a stir. But the maiden trip of the 1869 Rhode Island-built engine Little Rhody over the Boston

and Providence in its official capacity as that railroad‟s pay car, 8 June 1874, drew an even more

curious crowd as the little 0-4-0 chortled on its diminutive 43-inch drive wheels up to the Mansfield

depot under the charge of Paymaster Wheeler, inspiring a News reporter to write a detailed

description of its peculiar appearance.[28] A small steam locomotive married to a passenger coach,

this sort of hybrid machine was known as a "dummy."

* * *

The American public had traveled a long and not altogether happy road since the grisly death of

the boat train engineer on Canton Viaduct froze the blood of those who learned of it. And the sad

parade of limbless men coming home after the Civil War, along with published photos of fields of

battle strewn with bloated corpses had awakened the most sheltered and naive to the horrible injuries

and fatalities to which the human frame was subject. Trust the railroads to keep the parade going,

until their efforts were quite eclipsed by the horrendous 20th and 21st century massacre on the

highways, to which we have become so inured.

512

In the 19th century, as now, and in the sad tradition established by Member of Parliament William

Huskisson, every so often someone who was not where he should be was struck by a train. I have

found no record of the first trespasser on the property of the Boston and Providence Rail Road to be

maimed or killed; perhaps it was the heedless Irishman described in Elijah Dean‟s epic anti-railroad

poem

Around the middle of June 1874 a grisly accident occurred at Hebronville (there would be worse

yet). The southbound “Shore Line Express” leaving Mansfield at 10:18 p.m., unbeknownst to the

engineer, perhaps because of the weak headlights of the time, ran over a man, "mangling the remains

in a shocking manner." The accident was not even discovered until next morning, when it was found

that the wheels of the engine of the northbound mail train reaching Mansfield at 5:20 were covered

with blood and pieces of flesh.[29]

On the evening of 16 July near Mansfield depot, "Owing to a misunderstanding between the

brakeman and conductor, two portions of a freight train collided," derailing seven coal cars and

delaying the “Day Boat” train about 25 minutes. Damage, however, was "very slight."[30]

Whether the depot fire had drawn the attention of fault-finding city reporters to Mansfield is not

known, but a Providence newspaper at this time printed an unflattering article about what it saw as

the poor quality of railroad station food in general and Mansfield depot food in particular. This drew

a swift and indignant response from the News:

The taking of the salon kept by Mr. Slocum for an example of poor eating places must have

been a mistake, for we have often eaten at his counter and have never found any food not nice and

eatable, in fact some of his dishes have a reputation for excellence not confined to this locality.[31]

Not only was an improved station needed in Mansfield, but the question arose in town meeting

whether a lockup should be built near the depot to house tramps who passed (or did not pass)

through town and for whom this decidedly was not a "golden age."

The opponents said that a new building was far too expensive, and tramps could be housed at the

poor farm for much less money. Station agent Paine reported that during the warm season there is

"scarcely a night but that from one to six of these vagrants are hanging around and stowing

themselves away in freight cars and every imaginable place which offers the least protection."

Writers to the Mansfield News said there was an element of danger to having so many questionable

characters loose in the town, because they often stole or begged food from residents. [32]

513

On 27 July an unusual accident occurred at Mansfield which except for a lucky turn might have

been far more serious:

On Monday last, as Conductor [B. F.] Lincoln's train from Fitchburg was approaching Mansfield

station, it ran off the track in consequence of a rail having been taken out by the repair men.

Singularly enough, after remaining on the ground and sleepers some fifty feet, it again mounted the

rails at a patent switch and went forward all right, with not more than three minutes detention, and not

a particle of damage. Road Master Whitmore's men, who were repairing the track had a signal out to

stop the train, but by some means it was knocked down, and was not seen by the engineer.[33]

And there was other railroad excitement in Mansfield. The News in 1874 learned that a track was

soon to be laid from Mansfield to North Bridgewater (now Brockton). There seemed to be logical

reasons for building this cross-country line, and a half decade later, the same paper reported:

A road was surveyed and charter granted, we believe, from Mansfield to Brockton, a few years ago,

which was primarily to afford to Brockton business men increased facilities for reaching New York. If

the road could be pushed through to completion now, it would open communication between the

Providence railroad and this region with Brockton, and the towns to the eastward, which require a

day's travel to reach at present. . . . for a short road it would prove of great public convenience, and no

doubt prove a remunerative investment.[34]

But, logical reasons or not, this railroad never materialized[35] except in the form of a trolley line

at the end of the century; and even today travelers between Mansfield and Brockton must be content

with narrow, crooked and inadequate state highways, Routes 106 and 123.

Perhaps about this time or earlier, though I do not know the exact date, it was planned to build a

railroad from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, at the Blackstone Canal, “to meet the Boston and Providence rail road, either at Providence or at Dedham, Mass.”[36] This line too was never

undertaken.

514

For many years the sign "Look Out for the Engine While the Bell Rings" had been displayed

above the highway at every grade crossing on the Boston and Providence, and locomotive engineers

had been sounding their whistles when approaching such intersections. The Mansfield News urged

its readers in summer of 1874 to pay especial heed to this old familiar wording, because from now

on the bell would be the only warning the public were going to get. Superintendent A. A. Folsom

"under the recommendation of the R. R. Commissions both of Mass. and R. I." had issued a special

order to engineers to "discontinue the use of the whistle for all purposes, except as a special danger

signal." Enginemen would now blow the whistle only at grade crossings that were considered

particularly dangerous or "in case of freight trains, when it is necessary to inform station agents and

switchmen that train men will have work done at such stations." In other cases, only the bell would

be sounded. Thus Mansfield and other towns along the railroad would be quieter but also more

dangerous.

Evidently things were still not quiet enough, because in 1875 the city government of Boston,

responding to many petitions and complaints regarding excessive blowing of locomotive whistles at

grade crossings, agreed that the whistling had become "unendurable" and ruled that all whistle-

blowing within city limits, unless necessary for emergency purposes, must cease.[37]

The late cartoonist Al Capp once portrayed a hard-luck character called Joe Bftsplk who plodded

through life with a small personal rain cloud hovering over his head. On 24 August the little cloud

continued to hang above Clinton conductor B. F. Lincoln who brought a daily mixed train down

from Fitchburg so that passengers might connect at Mansfield with cars for Boston or Providence.

Worse, the bad luck was contagious, because the New Bedford road which shared the junction seems

to have caught it from the Clinton:

On Monday forenoon, as Conductor Lincoln's mixed train was coming in, and when near the round

house, a freight car ran off the track owing to the breaking of some portion of the running gear. As

the train was moving slowly but little damage was done, and by stopping the B. & P. trains nearly

opposite, and taking the baggage across by hand, the passengers and their effects were all sent on

without much detention. Almost simultaneously with the above accident and within three rods of the

same place, the N. B. engine, "Ward M. Parker," ran off the track in consequence of the turning out

of a rail. Fortunately, the "Fitchburg" was close at hand, by the assistance of which the "W. M. P."

was speedily replaced upon the track . . . .[38]

515

The News reported in September 1874, "The thief in the night who had been carrying away

quantities of brass from the engine house at [sic] the depot was finally apprehended by Officer T. H.

Nelson, who located part of the plunder in a junk shop in Stoughton. The thief turned out to be a

Canton boy, who was caught with 40 pounds of brass."[39]

Mansfield railroad-watchers saw a long heavy train one September day:

[The] Locomotive Providence, F. E. Walcott, Conductor and Geo. Pottle, Engineer, went over the B.

& P. Railroad a few days since drawing seventy-two freight cars and three "dead" locomotives. Each

new locomotive is considered equal to ten cars, as regards the power necessary to take them over the

road, so the train may be reckoned as consisting of one hundred and two cars.[40]

A Mansfield man named Lloyd E. Pike, in the best tradition of Marine Lieutenant Russ, sued the

Boston and Providence Corporation for $10,000 to recompense him for injuries he suffered a year

previously at a grade crossing in Attleborough. The company sent both a New Bedford and an

Attleborough doctor to examine Pike and determine the extent of his injuries.[41]

The power to approve discontinuation or reduction of passenger service of five or more years

duration at a station in Massachusetts was transferred in 1874 from the legislature, where it had

resided since 1865, to the State Board of Railroad Commissioners.[42]

* * *

Although American Railway Times had reported in 1860 that Boston and Providence "was

powered almost entirely by coal burners," some wood-burning locomotives, as has been said,

remained in service as late as 1874 or '75.[43] The railroad about 1874 conducted a forward-looking

experiment which turned out to be another of those many good ideas that didn't work. One of their

old locomotives (I have seen no record as to which) was converted to burn coal oil. Liquid fuel has

too many advantages over coal to be enumerated here, both as to its use and its storage. But the trial

ended in failure when, after twenty miles, the engine caught fire from oil leaks.[44] A dozen years

later, however, the experiment was repeated, with "good success."

Boston and Providence acquired only one new locomotive in 1874, and that took the number and

name of a retired engine. Second 8, W. Raymond Lee, was a 4-4-0 built by Rhode Island (their

construction number 639) with 16 by 24-inch cylinders and 66-inch drive wheels. It replaced old

516

number 8, W. R. Lee, which had been scrapped following its collision at Attleborough earlier in the

year. The Mansfield News, ever alert to railroad happenings, took notice of this change by observing,

"The old 'W. R. Lee' . . . is now a thing of the past. Last Wednesday a new 'W. Raymond Lee'

appeared on the road, which looks as if it might keep in remembrance the efficient Ex-

superintendent whose name it bears, for another twenty years. The engine is from the R. I.

Locomotive Works, and is first class in every respect."[45]

The newer engine was renumbered 161 when acquired by Old Colony and 761 by New Haven,

which in 1899 rebuilt it in Roxbury shops with 18 by 24-inch cylinders and racy 69-inch driving

wheels. This stalwart veteran, renumbered New Haven 1596 in 1904, has the distinction of being the

last survivor of the original Boston and Providence locomotives, though in much different form than

when built; it was scrapped 14 years into my lifetime, at the late date of December 1935,[46] far

outlasting the News prediction of 20 years.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in Providence, the Doyle Commission in 1874 or '75 had come up with a

radical proposal to improve the cramped terminal situation. They would abandon the Providence and

Worcester trackage that was operated jointly with Boston and Providence, and starting from a point

north of the Corliss Engine Works construct a new line into Providence that would take the tracks via

the Pleasant Valley route west of Smith's Hill to a stub-end terminal on the west side of the Cove, a

quarter mile from the Union Station. The new depot would have a freight station on either side with

a wye at the yard throat. This not-so-bright plan had the great disadvantage that all through trains

between Boston and New York would have to back for nearly a mile to get in or out of the station!

The railroad companies naturally balked at this time-wasting conception, which fortunately was not

adopted.[47]

At the other end of the line, the city of Boston in 1874 had decided it was time to make some

improvements to Columbus Avenue. These changes required that Boston and Providence move the

location of their depot westward across Pleasant Street.[48] Around the end of September the

corporation's lease to their existing office space expired. As the proposed new terminal building was

under construction anyway at Columbus Avenue and Providence Street, the railroad company

removed their offices there despite the fact that the accommodations were not complete – the new

depot was not expected to be opened to the public before the first day of 1875.[49]

517

And in fact on 4 January 1875 Boston and Providence did open their splendid Boston terminal

station on Columbus Avenue at the corner of Park Square, on the site of the present Statler Office

Building and Park Plaza Hotel. The north wall of the station bordered on appropriately-named

Providence Street, one block south of the Public Gardens. The opening of the $800,000 structure was

followed by a dedication ceremony held the next evening. Among those attending was His Royal

Highness Kalakaua I, from 1874 to 1891 King of Hawaii, then an independent nation.[50]

The impressive red brick and sandstone station, with its four gables each having crosses like a

cathedral, multiple archways and a traditional lofty-spired clock tower topped by an ornate

weathervane, was referred to in published blurbs as "The Palace Depot of the World" and was

considered one of the most completely appointed in the country as well as the world's longest station

building – 850 feet from end to end including the head house and train shed. It certainly was the

largest station in New England, and with the exception of New York City's Grand Central Depot

perhaps the largest in the country. In an era of relatively low-profile city architecture, the impressive

tower, carrying back-illuminated clock faces claimed to be the largest in Boston, dominated the city.

A contemporary rave noted that the new station, “although surpassed in size by a few structures of this kind, is inferior to none, in this country at least, in artistic beauty and in adaptability to the uses

for which it was designed.”

The station faced Park Square and its statue of Abraham Lincoln freeing a slave. Though the

architectural firm of Hartwell and Swasey drew up the initial design, final plans came from the firm

of Peabody and Stearns. Its style, colloquially termed "Steamboat Gothic," with a porte cochere

resembling the entrance to a Turkish bazaar, reflected other public buildings in the Back Bay,

including the old Museum of Fine Arts in Copley Square. It consisted of two distinct but separated

parts: the “train-house,” 588 feet long with a maximum width of 130 feet, in which “the great iron trusses cover five tracks and three platforms,” and the headhouse, “a great marble hall” 180 by 44 feet in floor plan and 80 feet high.

Inside, surrounding the spacious separate waiting rooms for gentlemen and ladies, were a ticket

office, baggage and package rooms, telegraph office, dining and reading rooms, a periodical stand, a

barber shop attached to the news room, washrooms, a smoking room, a room for playing billiards

and “an excellent restaurant . . . all furnished and equipped in a style equaled only by our best

hotels." A “fine gallery” overlooking and running around the central hall gave access to the railroad company offices “and other apartments.”

518

The extensive iron work was constructed by C. H. Parker and Company, doing business as the

National Bridge and Iron Works at McKay's Wharf, Border Street, East Boston. The five terminal

tracks and three platforms were sheltered by a European-looking arched train shed 600 feet long and

130 feet wide. All Providence trains as well as suburban trains to Dedham and other local stations

departed from this grand edifice, which served until 10 September 1899 when Providence trains

were moved into the new and present South Station. Alas, the building suffered the fate of all too

many splendid railroad terminals; after serving (among other demeaning commercial uses) as a roller

skating rink, it was damaged by a fire and in 1909 was demolished.[51]

Every important and well-appointed station had to have its news stand and its restaurant. Thomas

H. Devlin transferred his news dealership from Pleasant Street depot to the new terminal, and J.

George Cooper, who since around 1869, when he replaced Charles Gardner, had run the depot

restaurant at Pleasant Street, brought his food services to Park Square. Devlin remained at his news

job until about the time of the Old Colony takeover in 1888 and Cooper kept charge of the Park

Square dining room until between 1896 and 1899.[52]

It was at this time and a little afterward that the first of three distinguished visitors, one foreign,

the other two domestic, were received at Mansfield railroad depot. The foreign visitor was the

exuberant Kalakaua I, who in fall of 1874 embarked on a tour of Europe and the United States. On

the last day of the year he departed New York City aboard an elegant drawing-room car. Reaching

Attleborough, his train took him through Taunton to New Bedford, where a reception and banquet

awaited him. Next afternoon his train brought him to Mansfield, where it stopped to change engines.

Somehow Mansfieldians learned that the King's train would halt, and Pliny Cobb's Cornet Band

quickly mustered to give him a musical welcome on the depot platform. A large crowd, eager to see

what he looked like, gathered around, and Harrison Doty, a 60-year-old retired sea captain, pushed

through the throng and mounted the steps of the palace car to shake hands with Kalakaua, whom he

had met in Hawaii. Doty was delighted that the King remembered him. "Other Mansfield people

shook hands with the large dignified man, who, except for his color, did not look so different from

other people." With Kalakaua‟s party was his white brother-in-law.[53]

But there continued to be visitors of a less welcome sort in Mansfield and the other towns along

the railroad, which were having to face up to the need of dealing with the "army of tramps roving

about the countryside." Most of these were homeless men who arrived aboard the freight trains and

then began stealing and begging for food, seeming to make themselves at home as long as free eats

were available. The Mansfield newspaper editor suggested that each municipality require everyone

in town to earn his lodging and breakfast, for then the tramps would soon give the place a wide berth

519

when the word got out. The city of Newton tried this tack and noticed an immediate decrease in the

number of vagabonds.[54] The Mansfield News[55] observed early in 1876 that tramps at the local

almshouse had averaged 70 per month, and their numbers were showing an increase from the year

before.

Another sad and needless accident occurred in Mansfield on 10 February 1875:

Wednesday afternoon, about 2 o'clock, Matthew Rourke, a lad seventeen years of age, while

attempting to jump upon a dump car, attached to the shifting engine, which was backing down the

depot yard, caught his foot in a "frog" and was run over by two of the trucks of the engine. The right

leg of the lad was taken off below the knee and the left foot badly crushed. Amputation was

performed by Drs. Allen and Perry, but the boy's life could not be saved; he died at 9 o'clock,

Thursday morning. When will boys learn to keep away from the cars?[56]

A mishap at Foxborough on the Clinton road had happier results:

The locomotive attached to the 9 o'clock train from Mansfield broke one of its forward driving

wheels, last Monday, just as it arrived at the Foxboro station. It had whistled down brakes, and

uncoupled when the tire came off and pieces of the wheel flew in every direction. No damage was

done to the engine. [57]

Yet another potential threat to the Boston and Providence developed when the New Haven,

Middletown and Willimantic Railroad Company, which had been chartered in Connecticut 24 July

1867 and organized 24 October 1868, was opened in 1873 from New Haven to Willimantic, 50

miles. The road quickly ran into financial difficulties, and on 9 June 1875 the first mortgage

bondholders formed the Boston and New York Air Line Railroad Company, chartered in Connecticut

for the purpose of taking over the Willimantic's property. The Air Line Company was organized 24

June, and on 8 July acquired the deed to the Willimantic line. Together with its connections the Air

Line would provide the shortest and most direct though not necessarily the best route between New

York and Boston.[58]

In September 1875, "A man clad only in an undershirt threw himself in front of the express train

in Attleboro and was killed instantly. At press time, police were still trying to figure out who he

was."[59]

520

The effects of the Panic of 1873 were still being felt two years afterward. The Mansfield News

worried that "Almost everybody who has got work trembles for fear it will not last long, and the

large number out of employment wear a disconsolate look . . . ."[60]

Yet despite the general business recession, the progress of industries brought by the railroads to

Mansfield, though running second to that of Taunton and perhaps Canton, had moved steadily

forward. Now, in the opening days of October 1875, came a news item to throw all other local

industrial development quite in the shade and if carried to fruition would have been particularly

appropriate to the important junction in that town. The News can hardly restrain its excitement as it

reports:

We understand that Mr. B. W. Healey, late superintendent of the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, is

interesting himself in the establishment of a similar manufactory in Mansfield. Plenty of land,

favorably located has been offered for the enterprise at a very low figure by a prominent citizen, who

will also take $10,000 of stock. Capitalists in Providence, it is also said, stand ready to subscribe, and

we hope our citizens will do their part towards establishing such a manufactory in our midst. It is said

that 200 men would be employed immediately upon the completion of the works. As far as present

indications go we consider the enterprise as an established fact and expect soon to welcome a large

access to the working population of the town.[61]

But alas, whether because of the depression or other unknown reasons, the "established fact” and “large access" never showed itself and for better or worse ground was never broken for what might have become known as the “Mansfield Locomotive Works.”

Neither did an early effort in November toward establishing a pre-Acela "high speed" train service

between Boston and New York come to pass:

Arrangements were lately made between the Providence railroad and connecting lines to New York,

whereby the time of the midday train was to be shortened three-quarters of an hour. Upon trial the

New York and New Haven road seemed to intentionally defeat the effort, by detaining the train. The

Providence Journal calls this action "pure cussedness." Too mild a term altogether.[62]

521

A petition circulated by C. T. Borden of Mansfield asking (it had been asked before) that Boston

and Providence furnish package tickets between Mansfield and Boston was received favorably by

superintendent A. A. Folsom, who promised the petitioner that the tickets would be in the hands of

the local agent probably by 1 December.[63]

Boston and Providence bought no new locomotives in 1875. In that year all Dedham Branch

service by horse-drawn coach, which had been run mixed in with steam trains, was ended.[64] But

as if to set the tone for a brighter future, the railroad temporarily brought a "man of genial and

courteous manners and of kindly disposition" to the top post: Henry Austin Whitney, already a

director of the road, was chosen during the unexplained absence of Colonel John Henry Clifford's

successor to serve as interim president of the corporation.[65]

In 1875 the Boston and Providence and the Old Colony railroads together acquired by purchase

the majority of the stock of the Union Freight Railroad Company. This quaint little line, with which

Bostonians of my age were familiar, had been chartered 6 May 1872 and organized 6 June of the

same year. Opening on 1 April 1873, it ran through the cobblestoned streets of The Hub, connecting

the Old Colony, the Boston and Albany and the New York and New England on the south side of the

city with the Eastern, Fitchburg, and Boston and Lowell on the north, by way of Cove Street at

Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street.[66]

On 1 December 1875 the Boston and Providence sold to the Old Colony the Fall River, Warren

and Providence Railroad Company.[67]

522

NOTES

1. Beebe and Clegg 1952: 48. It was Mark Twain who styled this opulent period "The Golden Age." Golden it may

have been for Morgan and other robber barons, but not for the marginal New England farmer who watched his livelihood

disappear toward the sunset with a sucking sound in proportion as trainloads of midwestern farm produce rolled into

Boston. Someone said that to look J. P. Morgan in the eye was like staring at the headlight of an onrushing locomotive.

2. Mansfield News 16 Feb. 1877.

3. Copeland 1936-56: 63. It was to be another six years before the entire Boston & Providence main line was laid

with steel rails. The Mansfield News reported on 6 Oct. 1876 that the Clinton was "laying steel rails between Fitchburg

and South Framingham, and all passenger and baggage cars are to have steel wheels."

4. Barrett 1996: 220, from Appleton's Ry & steam navigation guide, Oct. 1873.

5. Barrett 1996: 223, from Appleton's Ry & steam navigation guide, Oct. 1873.

6. Mansfield News 16 Jan. 1874.

7. Mansfield News 30 Jan. 1874.

8. See Barrett 1996: 61 for a photo of a Boston & Maine R. R. ball house.

9. Copeland 1936-56: 99; Mansfield News 12 Feb. 1999, "125 yrs ago." Some railroads employed tin signals of

the same shape, painted red, says Copeland.

10. Mansfield News 20 Feb. 1874.

11. Mansfield News 29 Feb., 13 Mar. 1874. If flagmen were to be used, why bother with gates?

12. Mansfield News 13 Mar. 1874.

13. Mansfield News 10 July 1874.

14. Mansfield News 9 April 1999, "125 yrs ago."

15. Mansfield News 24 Apr. 1874; reprinted Mansfield News 30 April 1999, "125 yrs ago."

16. Mansfield News 1 May 1874; Copeland 1936-56: 157-9.

17. Mansfield News 15 May 1874.

18. Mansfield News 22 May 1874; Copeland 1936-56: 204-5.

19. Mansfield News 17 July 1874.

20. Mansfield News 15 May 1874.

21. Mansfield News 22 May 1874.

22. Copeland 1931e, 1936-56: 73.

23. Mansfield News 15 May 1874.

24. Mansfield News 12 June 1874.

25. Mansfield News 29 May 1874; reprinted Mansfield News 11 June 1999, "125 yrs ago."

26. Mansfield News 29 May 1874.

27. Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass., 28 Mar. 1999, photo from Attleboro Area Industrial

Museum in a column entitled "Remember When?" by Bill Hannan.

523

28. Mansfield News 29 May, 12 June 1874. C. Fisher's roster of Clinton locomotives (R&LHS Apr. 1938, bull. 46, p.

49) offers no clue to the identity of that road's pay car. The News calls the Boston & Providence pay car Little Rhoda.

29. Mansfield News 19 June 1874.

30. Mansfield News 17 July 1874.

31. Mansfield News 24 July 1874; reprinted Mansfield News 23 July 1999, "125 yrs ago." We wish we could treat

the Providence critic to a present-day airline "meal!"

32. Reprinted Mansfield News 19 Nov. 1999, "125 yrs ago." The conductor of a southbound freight on the Clinton

road discovering far up country that tramps had invaded a boxcar on his train, slid the door shut and locked them in,

planning to turn them over to the police at the next stop, Mansfield. But though apparently they had only a large nail for

a tool, the prisoners gouged a hole in the wooden door big enough to get a hand through and release the locked handle,

after which they bailed, leaving an empty car when the train stopped at Mansfield.

33. Mansfield News 31 July 1874.

34. Mansfield News 14 Feb. 1879.

35. Copeland 1930b, 1936-56: 63.

36. Hayward‟s New England Gazetteer, date unknown. 37. Boston Sunday Globe 14 Dec. 2003. The “whistle or no whistle” dispute continues in 2005, as communities around Boston debate noise-and-safety versus quiet-and-danger.

38. Mansfield News 28 Aug. 1874.

39. Reprinted Mansfield News 3 Sept. 1999, "125 yrs ago." My grandfather Charles Elwin Chase, later yardmaster

at Mansfield, exaggerated only slightly when he said, "Some of those brass fittings were worth their weight in gold."

40. Mansfield News 25 Sept. 1874.

41. Mansfield News 27 Nov. 1874.

42. Humphrey and Clark 1986: 2.

43. White 1968-79: 88.

44. Am. Ry. Times 28 Jan. 1860 and Boston & Providence Ann. Rep't for 1874 in White 1968-79: 88, 90.

45. Mansfield News 10 July 1874. Edson's claim (1981: xvii) that the first W. R. Lee was scrapped in 1873 is

incorrect, because the engine was hauling a train when involved in the Attleborough collision of 7 Mar. 1874.

46. C. Fisher 1938b: 81. W. Raymond Lee as rebuilt by New Haven in 1899 into a "modern medium 4-4-0" bore

little or no resemblance to the original. With 69-inch drivers, an engine weight of 107,000 pounds, a new frame, a new

boiler having a pressure of 180 psi, new cylinders and (says Swanberg 1988: 63) "just about everything else," it became

practically a brand new machine, reminding one of the story of grandfather's ax still being the original though it has had

three new handles and a new head. In 1904 it was assigned to class C-3-b. It is quite possible I may have seen it! See

ibid. for a photo of the similar rebuilt N. H. engine 638, later 1593. Perhaps it was in honor of its name that such tender

loving care was given this engine.

47. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 11, q. v. for map.

48. Barrett 1996: 89.

49. Mansfield News 2 Oct. 1874.

50. Harlow 1946: 395; I thank my cousin Philip Chase of Kailua, Hawaii, for calling this reference to my attention.

Hawaii was then known as the Sandwich Islands. Barrett (1996) says nothing of His Majesty 's presence at the

dedication. David Kalakaua (born 16 Nov. 1836) presents the interesting example of a democratic king; he was elected to

524

fill the vacant throne in Feb. 1874. He was known as the Merrie Monarch for his love of music, champagne and hula.

Kalakaua's talented sister Liliuokalani followed him as the last ruler of independent Hawaii before being deposed in

1893 in favor of a client government backed by U. S. business (mostly sugar-growing) interests.

51. NYNH&H Aug. 1943: 11; Harlow 1946: q.v. following p. 82 for photo; Arnold 1976 (photo); Humphrey and Clark

1985: 30 (photo), 31; Brown 1989: 32, q.v. for picture from J. E. Lancaster coll.; Barrett 1996: 90-100, illustrations on p.

93-99. Dates for the opening of this station differ: Humphrey and Clark say it opened in 1873; Darnell and Barrett

(probably correct) say 4 Jan. 1875. National Bridge and Iron Works also built the "iron depot" for the Boston, Lowell &

Nashua R. R. in Boston. See Swanberg 1988: 79 for 1890s photo of the impressive stone train shed.

52. Barrett 1996: 185. Cooper also ran the food service at Boston & Maine's Haymarket Square depot from 1883

until it closed at the end of 1893. Devlin, like a good South Boston Irishman, later entered politics and served as

member of the Boston Common Council, as Alderman, and Commissioner of Public Institutions; he died in 1930 (ibid.:

190, q. v. for a photo of a covered vegetable dish lettered (in "Old English," of course) "B.&.P.D." for "Boston &

Providence Depot.").

53. Copeland 1932b, 1936-56: 175, 230; 18 Feb. 2000 (reprint); Mansfield News "100 yrs ago" 21 Jan. 2000: 11.

Copeland rather ungraciously refers to Kalakaua (whose name she misspells "Kalakua") as "King of the Cannibal

Islands."

54. Mansfield News "125 yrs ago" 21 Jan. 2000: 11. The News in March 1876 warns its readers of sartorially

disadvantaged tramps augmenting their meager wardrobes by stealing from local clotheslines and suggests as a remedy

"a dose of lead served cold." Railroad tramps were still common when I was a boy in the early 1930s.

55. Mansfield News "125 yrs ago" 2 Feb. 2001.

56. Mansfield News 12 Feb. 1875. With such accidents, it was customary to carry the victim "into the depot

baggage room, and if he was alive, they'd blow six blasts on an engine whistle. That signal alerted 'old' Dr. Allen to fire

up his airtight charcoal stove to heat water in a boiler in preparation for surgery; and summoned dozens of kids, who'd

swarm around and into the baggage room to see the mangled body until the sheriff drove 'em out. They'd put the man on

a flat car hitched to an engine and run it down the Taunton Branch to Park street, then carry him on a stretcher to Doc

Allen's [on North Main Street]. The doc'd spread a canvas on his barn floor, put the man on it, and cut off the smashed

arm or leg." (G. E. Sawyer, pers. comm., in Chase, Mansfield News, 18 Mar. 1965, describes this rough-and-ready

emergency treatment.)

57. Mansfield News 19 Feb. 1875. The whistle signal "Down brakes" was an indication by the engineer to the

trainmen to apply the hand brakes on the cars.

58. Mansfield News 2 May 1873; C. Fisher Nov. 1936: 29; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 33, 34, 36, 42, 44, 45;

NYNH&H 1917. Here a few date inconsistencies appear: the News says NHM&W was opened for its full length

Saturday, 26 Apr. 1873; Fisher gives the opening date as 15 Aug. 1873. NYNH&H 1917 says B&NY Airline [sic] R. R.

Co. was incorporated in Conn. 8 June 1875. NHRAA (p. 44) dates the opening of NHM&W in Aug. 1871 and the Air

Line incorporation at 9 June 1875.

59. Mansfield News "125 yrs ago" 22 Sept. 2000.

60. Mansfield News 22 Jan. 1875, reprinted in Mansfield News 20 Mar. 1998.

61. Mansfield News 8 Oct. 1875.

62. Mansfield News 12 Nov. 1875.

63. Mansfield News 19 Nov. 1875.

525

64. Humphrey and Clark 1986: 3.

65. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Henry A. Whitney (not to be confused with Henry M.

Whitney, though it is easy to do so, and I am not sure I have avoided the trap) was born in Boston 6 Oct. 1826, died in

Boston 21 Feb. 1889. He was the second child and only son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Pratt) Whitney. After being

graduated from Harvard (A. B., A. M.) in 1846, he joined his father in 1849 as a partner in Joseph Whitney & Co., a

large wholesale boot and shoe business. He married, 3 Mar. 1852, Fanny Lawrence, daughter of William Lawrence; she

died in Boston 28 Jan. 1883 (Bayles 1891; Mackenzie 1907/1966). The elder Whitney established a line of steamships

between Boston and Baltimore, and the son became a director in 1863. In 1871 he was elected a director of Boston &

Providence and again in 1875, and was also president of Suffolk National Bank and a director in many corporations and

industries. As mentioned, he served as fill-in president of Boston & Providence. He was (says Bayles, 1891) “respected as a man of liberal ideas, sound judgment and upright business methods.” He was chosen Col. Clifford's successor as B&P president in 1876 and held that office until his death. I have found no evidence that Henry Austin Whitney and the

later and younger streetcar and coal mine magnate and B&P president Henry M. Whitney were related; Henry A. had no

son named Henry.

66. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 40, 42, 44.

67. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 45.

526

32 – The year of jubilee

The accession during the United States centennial year of 1876 of the distinguished Henry Austin

Whitney to the presidency of Boston and Providence[1] was accompanied and followed by many

changes for the better.

However, for the Boston and Providence Rail Road as well as Attleborough residents, the year did

not begin on a felicitous note. The Attleboro Advocate describes another needless and ugly death

occurring in that town on 7 January:

The shore line train which passed through here at 1.43 P. M., with almost lightning speed, last Friday

ran over and almost instantly killed Mr. John Campbell, of Norton. Mr. Campbell had been standing at

Shaw & Wetherell's market, when he started for the passenger depot. A freight train was standing on

the west track, over which he was obliged to pass. He was observed to climb upon a flat car and

prepare to jump to the ground between the two tracks, and was cautioned by bystanders to stop, but not

seeing the rapidly approaching train, he jumped, and was instantly struck by the engine of the Shore

Line train. The blow he received on the head, completely removed the upper portion of the head and

caused instantaneous death.

Campbell, who worked in Charles D. Lane's sawmill near Lane's (later Chartley) station on the

Chartley branch in Norton, left a wife but no children.[2]

As if further proof were needed of the infinite capacity of the human race for reckless conduct,

this was followed by a near tragedy at Sharon:

Last Saturday night two Irishmen attempted to get on the train for Boston after it had started. One

succeeded, but his companion was swung between the platform and the cars, with his legs across the

rail. Fortunately his legs were pushed off by the brake, and Mr. Bullard, the depot master, laid down on

the platform and held the man until the train had passed.[3]

The Boston and Providence public timetable taking effect Monday, 31 January 1876, reveals the

density of passenger traffic on the line. Two morning and five afternoon or evening "outward"

passenger trains daily left Boston for Providence, and four morning trains and two afternoon and

evening "inward" passenger trains departed Providence daily for Boston. In addition to these,

another morning passenger train ran daily from Providence to Boston except Mondays. A Monday-

527

only train scheduled to leave Providence at 4:15 a. m. and trains leaving Providence at 5:15 a. m. and

7:40 p. m. are marked on the timetable, "Or on arrival of train from N. Y." The route between Boston

and New York is described in the tables as the "Shore Line Railroad," the first use I have seen of that

exact label that survives until this day.

Three so called "special trains" left Mansfield for Providence, two of them in the morning and one

in early evening; these were what we would call commuter trains.

Many main line stations which now have been abandoned for years then enjoyed passenger

service: for example, West Mansfield, Dodgeville and Hebronville had three outward and four

inward daily trains making station stops. East Junction had two trains stopping each way. Roxbury

boasted 11 morning and 14 afternoon and evening trains inbound to Boston. Heath Street depot, long

a memory, had three morning and five afternoon and evening trains from Boston and four morning

and four afternoon and evening trains to Boston.

Stations on the Dedham Branch were Roslindale, Central (Bellevue) Street, Highland, West

Roxbury Village, Spring Street and Dedham. Four morning and 13 afternoon and evening passenger

trains left Boston daily for Dedham; and nine morning and nine afternoon and evening passenger

trains left Dedham daily for Boston.

On McNeill's old original Boston and Providence main line, passenger trains for Perrin's, Rumford

and India Point (revived as a passenger terminal) departed Boston daily at 7:30 a. m. and 4:00 p. m.,

and left India Point for Boston at 6:35 a. m. and 3:50 p. m.

On the Stoughton Branch, two morning, one noon and three afternoon passenger trains pulled out

of Boston daily for Canton, South Canton and Stoughton, and four morning and one afternoon

passenger trains left Stoughton daily for Boston.

The “Shore Line Express” or “lightning train” for New York now departed Boston daily at 1:00

p. m., making no stops between Boston's new Park Square Station and Providence, and was due at

"Grand Central Depot," 42nd Street, New York, at 8:00 p. m. Its opposite number left New York also

at 1:00 p. m., but the time of arrival at Boston was not stated. The Mail Train left Boston at 9:30

p. m. "Sundays included" and was due in New York at 5:55 a. m.; in the other direction, it left New

York "Sundays included" at 10:00 p. m., time of arrival in Boston again not stated. Both the Boston-

bound trains "stop to leave passengers from New York at Way Stations."

Daily passenger trains to New London and New Haven left Boston at 7:30 a. m. and 1:00 and 9:30

p. m.; a daily train to New London only, reminiscent of the New Haven Railroad's “New London Shoreliner,” departed Boston at 2:00 p. m. No return schedules are given.

The timetable lists trains each way on the New Bedford Railroad between Boston, Taunton and

528

New Bedford, but there is no indication whether these trains ran by way of Mansfield or via

Bridgewater, and if they used the Mansfield route, what times they left that town.

Although the branch to Foxborough was not part of the Boston and Providence, the latter road's

public timetable lists passenger trains leaving "Foxboro' Centre" at 7:35 and 9:50 a. m. and 4:45 and

7:35 p. m., the latter train "Connecting at Mansfield with Shore Line from N.Y."

Superintendent of the Boston and Providence was still A. A. Folsom.[4]

The benefits of all these changes and improvements did not extend to the men who worked for the

railroads, however, because in February ten percent of Boston and Providence's employes were laid

off, and employes of the New Bedford road were "cut down again." But Boston and Providence had

not forgotten passenger convenience: it was announced that "All of the passenger cars on the road

are to be provided with an additional step for the benefit of ladies."[5] Neither were shippers to be

left in the lurch; it was understood that a "new New York freight train [was] soon to be added to the

facilities of the New Bedford and B. C. & F. lines."[6]

It was about this time that the country felt the throes of narrow gauge railroad fever. Because

narrow gauge rails were laid closer together, engines and cars were made smaller, therefore rails,

ties, ballasting and bridges could be lighter and curves sharper. Such diminutive roads were cheaper

to build – $10,000 to $20,000 per mile against $25,000 to $60,000 for a conventional railroad. Thus

in some cases they satisfied the desire for cheap transportation, especially where freight of low bulk

and high weight – ores, for example – had to be carried.[7]

But that was only one side of the coin. They also carried smaller loads of both passengers and

freight at lower speeds; and being cheap to construct, they tended to be jerry-built. Though with their

small dimensions, sharp curves and undulating grades they often were laid out in places where no

railroad had gone before, the reason no track had gone there before was perhaps that a railroad in

those places was not economically justifiable. The biggest disadvantage of narrow gauge roads was

that, except in parts of the mountainous West where they dominated, they were incompatible with

their neighbors – pygmies in a world of the normal. Because of the disparity in track width neither

engines nor rolling stock could be interchanged with standard gauge roads, and transfer of freight

and passengers meant tedious and expensive unloading from the cars of one railroad and reloading

into the cars of the other, or, in a few cases, use of an overhead crane to lift freight cars bodily off

their trucks and set them down on wheel-sets of a different gauge.

529

Every state in the union except Connecticut had at least one narrow gauge road. Even the Bay

State was not immune from this short-term craze: the three-foot-gauge Boston, Revere Beach and

Lynn, the first railroad in the country to be dispatched entirely by telephone, and which in my

boyhood, after it was electrified, I rode many times, was opened 22 July 1875. In 1877 an even

narrower road, the two-foot Billerica and Bedford, was founded in Massachusetts. It ran for less than

a year, but it inspired Maine to lay out a sprawling network of two-foot-gauge lines. Some narrow

roads enjoyed a marginal success over a period of decades. In the West, three-foot-gauge tracks

threaded the winding canyons of the Rockies. The South Pacific Coast, for which my grandfather

Charles Chase worked five years, ran a high-class freight, passenger and commute service on 36-

inch tracks from Oakland through San Jose to Los Gatos, California, a distance of 52 miles.

I do not know who came up with the idea of a slim gauge road competing with Boston and

Providence, but such an impractical venture actually was planned.[8] It was called the Boston,

Wrentham and Providence Railroad Company and was projected to cost $865,967.15. The road

received its charter in 1876, and a meeting of "parties interested in" the proposed line was held in

Boston 20 January 1877 (apparently there had been an earlier meeting), when the name was

favorably voted on; and we hear about it again the following May, when it was reported in a

Wrentham news item that

The Narrow Gauge Railroad is still a subject of thought, conversation, and some action. Those

interested are supposed to be moving slowly to the fulfillment of their wishes. Wednesday [23 May]

certain required notices were posted through town and along the line of the proposed road.[9]

But after this, all mention of the planned narrow gauge disappears from the Mansfield paper and

presumably vanished as well from serious consideration, because the line was never built.

On 21 April a neighborhood eyesore, the old Taunton Branch engine shed behind the Mansfield

House near Chauncy Street, caught fire but despite the hopes of nearby residents the blaze was

extinguished without much damage.[10] By the following week a "switch house" had been placed at

the East Street crossing in Mansfield[11] and less than a month later the roof of Mansfield depot,

which had never been the same since the fire there, had to be repaired again.[12]

The 8th of May 1876 saw the opening of the first co-coordinated service between Boston and

530

Washington, marked by the maiden run of the “Centennial Train.”[13]

The flexible interchange of cars dimly envisioned by New England railroad pioneers was now in

full swing. One observer noted that around 1876 in the station and yards at Park Square Station in

Boston, besides Boston and Providence rolling stock, one could still see (the evidently unrepainted)

cars of the Taunton Branch as well as the New Bedford and Taunton, the old Norfolk County

Railroad and the Canton, Stoughton and North Easton, all of which entered the city on their own

rails or over those of other roads.[14]

A more serious fire occurred at Mansfield just after 11 a. m. 22 May when the engineer of

locomotive number 2, Washacum, the Clinton's yard switcher, spotted smoke pouring from the roof

of the former straw hat factory known as the Union Building, which stood east of the tracks on

Washington Square about 100 feet north of the Boston and Providence freight house. This building

contained not only G. W. and C. H. Mowry's Variety Store but also a meeting place called Union

Hall. Immediately Washacum's engineman sounded the fire alarm by yanking his whistle cord, but

the buildings, owned by Samuel Chandler Cobb, were nearly destroyed.[15]

After the blackened ruins, which before long came to be regarded as a blemish on the landscape,

had been cleared away, though this took five months or more,[16] the freight house was moved

slightly north to a more convenient site. Freight agent at the time was Alfred Day.[17]

Shortly after this conflagration, on 1 June 1876, as previously mentioned, the New Bedford

Railroad Company between Mansfield and New Bedford, which itself was a consolidation of the

Taunton Branch, the New Bedford and Taunton and the Fairhaven Branch, took the logical step of

consolidating in its turn with the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg. The reorganized company then

became known by the tongue-twisting moniker of Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford

(again, people sensibly shortened it to "the Clinton"). The line never came near Boston, but the title

sounded impressive, and the railroad, at least for the moment, looked pretty impressive too. Its

southern end was anchored on the New Bedford piers of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal

Company, touted as "one of the largest coal receiving plants on the Atlantic Coast."[18]

This latest consolidation simplified the picture at Mansfield, where now two roads, Boston and

Providence and the new Clinton, crossed each other at an acute angle just north of the passenger

station.[19] But the promising new corporation was to have a life of just three years before it was

eaten up in turn by a still hungrier company.

The new enlarged Clinton was quick to get comprehensive timetables into effect. By 26 June four

regular passenger trains and the "steamboat passenger" train, three "express" freights, a local freight

531

and a "night freight" ran daily in a "downward" direction from Framingham to Mansfield; while the

boat train, Number 18, arrived at Mansfield at 5:36 p. m. In the "upward" direction, five passenger

trains, three express freights, a night freight and a local freight departed Mansfield daily for

Framingham.

In addition to these through trains, "Special Trains"or commuter runs shuttled between Mansfield

and Foxborough, one train set making four round trips a day. Locals referred to this abbreviated run

as "The Scoot."

Several numbered special instructions of sufficiently intertwined complexity to befuddle an

Einstein not to mention the poor yardmaster, designed to keep conflicting Framingham and

Foxborough trains out of one another's hair, went into effect at Mansfield:

No. 2. Express Freights no. 13 and 15 will have right of road So. Framingham to Mansfield over

all Freight Trains, and Passenger Train No. 7, from Mansfield, until 2.45 p. m. See Rule No. 3.

No. 3. Passenger Train No. 7, from Mansfield, will wait at Mansfield for Express Freights No's 5,

13 & 15 until 2.45 p. m., and will then have right of road over Express freights No's 5, 13 and 15.

No. 4. All Passenger Trains from South Framingham will leave there on time, and have the right

of road over all Passenger Trains coming from Mansfield, unless otherwise specially provided for.

No. 5. All trains going out or coming in to the yard at Mansfield will run at a slow rate of speed,

and the Engineer must have the train under his control.

No. 6. Foxboro and Mansfield Special Trains must keep out of the way of all regular trains, both

Passenger and Freight.

No. 7. Local Freights No's 4 and 10 will keep out of the way of all Regular Freights, with the

exception that Local Freight No. 4, will have the right of road to Walpole until 5.00 p. m., over

freight train No. 16, and to Mansfield over night freight No. 9, and train No. 10 will have right of

road to So. Framingham until 12.22 p. m., over train No. 5. See Rules 12 and 20. . . .

No. 11. Night Freight No. 9, and Express Freights Nos. 12, 14 and 16 from Mansfield, will have

the right of road from Mansfield to South Framingham, over Night Freight No. 11.

No. 12. Night Freight No. 9 and Express Freights No's 14 and 16, will not leave Mansfield until

Nos. 5, 13 and 15 arrive, at Mansfield, and No. 16 will wait at Walpole for local freight No. 4 until

5.05 p. m., and No. 9, will wait at Mansfield, for local freight No. 4. . . .

No. 17. Train No. 12 will have right of road to Walpole until 1.15 p. m. over train No. 5 – after that

time will keep out of the way of train No. 5. Also train No. 5 will have right of road to

Mansfield over train No. 7, until 2.45 p. m. . . .

No. 20. Train No. 5 will wait at So. Framingham until 12.25 p. m., for train No. 10, and then

have right of road to Mansfield, over all freight trains.[20]

532

Helping to sort out this confusion was the Clinton's engine number 25, S. A. Webber, which, the

local paper noted on 9 June, had "been repaired and again placed on the road, apparently as good as

new."[21]

Another human accident, which could have been worse, involved a passenger train of the new

corporation at Mansfield station on the morning of 6 June. William Clark, a coal dealer and real

estate owner living near Boylston Station, ran to catch a departing Taunton train and in trying to

board was thrown between the cars and the depot platform. One foot was badly crushed; and when,

thinking the train had safely passed, he raised his head he was struck by the steps of the last car,

injuring one eye and tearing the flesh downward from his cheekbone. Agent Fred Paine rushed to his

aid and Dr. William G. Allen arrived a few minutes later. In those days there was no telephone or “9-

1-1" number, no ambulance to come screaming to the scene with its paramedics and no nearby

hospital. But the employes of the Boston and Providence proved equal to the emergency. Paine

scurried to the telegraph, which had just been moved into the ticket agent's office in the depot, and

wired superintendent A. A. Folsom to ask if the 10 a. m. Boston-bound train could make an

unscheduled stop at Boylston station. Folsom gave his okay, and when the cars arrived at Mansfield,

Paine bundled the injured man aboard and rode with him to his home.[22]

One more potential freight customer was being built in Mansfield: a steam box mill, going up

alongside the Boston and Providence tracks near the Central Iron Foundry.[23] And on the glorious

centennial Fourth of July the Clinton engine Thomas Mandell, number 30, handled by engineer John

B. Coffin, set some sort of record for local passenger running when after leaving 13 minutes late

from Pearl Street station about 10 miles north of Framingham with a train scheduled to reach

Mansfield at 9:15 a. m., made the 31-1/4 miles in 52 minutes, including five station stops, arriving at

Mansfield only three minutes late.[24]

By now at least one Mansfield grade crossing, probably on the former Taunton Branch at North

Main Street but perhaps Chauncy Street near the depot, was protected by hand operated gates,

which, however, were not always a guarantee of public safety. A team drawn by a hit-and-run horse

struck the gate and broke it, smashing the attached red lantern and upsetting the gate tender, who

happened to be the owner of a nearby store. The gate was replaced by a new one of heavier

construction. This gate pivot evidently squeaked loudly enough to disturb the slumbers of the

neighbors, because a young woman who lived close by was seen to run out and oil it.

533

One crossing not adequately protected was Bellew's on North Main Street just north of the

junction. On 1 August 1876 a milk cart carelessly driven across the tracks near the freight house was

demolished by the engine of the 8:40 a.m. train for Providence, and its driver, who did not learn

from a previous close call, was thrown into the road and injured. The paper commented, "A flagman

should be stationed at every crossing especially where engines are so frequent. The switchman

whose duty requires his presence near this locality states that he frequently is obliged to hasten from

his switch to the crossing, several rods away, to warn drivers of approaching trains, and that this

same team was warned by him within a few days, when it escaped by only a foot or two from being

crushed by an approaching engine."[25]

To smooth the safe and expeditious passage of the new main line trains, in 1876 "Tin Bridge" built

1865-'67 over Blackstone River near the Massachusetts-Rhode Island state line was replaced by a

solid five-span pin-connected covered wooden deck bridge 380 feet long. This new bridge had no

metal sheathing, but the old nickname stuck and an even newer bridge is called "Tin Bridge" to the

present day.[26]

In Mansfield, "the Depot," as everyone called it (and as it still was called when I was a boy), was

now 16 years old. That was the year baggage master Nelson Paine, progenitor of the Paine line of

railroad men, dropped dead at his post while waiting for the Stonington boat train to come in from

Boston at 6:25 p. m.[27] His son, 47-year-old Fred Paine, already the station agent, succeeded him

in the baggage room, which then was located at the north end of the depot, where the heating plant

was placed later after a separate one-story frame building for baggage and express had been erected

just south of the station.[28]

Fred's son Charles F., who had grown up in Mansfield depot, to carry on the family tradition also

spent his working life on the railroad. For a short time he had been conductor on the “Tin Kettle” train leaving Mansfield at 6:15 a. m. for Providence. In 1876 the popular young man became station

agent at Readville and in June 1877 postmaster at the same spot, the post office being in the depot,

remaining as agent until 1900 and postmaster until he died in 1904.[29]

Seven months after the layoff of employes of the two railroads serving Mansfield came the notice

in the local paper that a "material change" in the 4 September timetable showed that several trains

had been taken off. This was followed two weeks later by the news that the lumber for building the

new Methodist Church on North Main Street in Mansfield filled six freight cars, some of the timbers

being 60 feet long.[30]

Boston and Providence's freight business showed no sign of diminishing, because in one night in

October 1876 their engine John Winthrop, number 31, a Rhode Island 4-4-0 built six years earlier,

534

with engineer Gardner and conductor Gerry, took 108 cars from Mansfield to East Junction.[31]

The Mansfield board of selectmen in October 1876 appealed to the Boston and Providence

company to station flagmen permanently at the Greene [Central Street], Skinner [School Street] and

Williams railroad crossings "because of the many serious accidents that injured and sometimes killed

several residents a year."[32] Skinner's crossing was particularly treacherous because of a combined

sharp curve and downgrade in the road leading to the tracks. Six months later the News reported a

near miss at Skinner's when Velorous B. Hodges was almost run down by the 3 p. m. train from

Providence as he and his wife tried to cross the tracks in a carriage. He had waited out the passing of

a southbound freight and then, assuming the way was clear, urged his horse forward "and was

surprised to find the passenger train right upon him." Only the horse's quick reflexes and superior

intelligence saved the two (and the horse) from injury. Not long before, the Rev. R. S. Cook had a

similar close call at the same crossing. The paper noted again that accidents caused [sic!] by trains

were of major concern, and observed, "A flag-man would make the crossing safer for the traveling

public."[33] Increased use of intelligent horses might achieve the same end.

The Mansfield News observed in October that an additional night freight train had been put on the

road between New Bedford and Mansfield "to keep pace with the increasing coal business," and that

the Clinton during the 12-month period ending 1 October 1876 had brought up from New Bedford

1634 more tons of coal than in the previous year. To help with interchanging some of this growing

traffic between the Boston and Providence and the Clinton, the offices of freight agents Alfred Day

and Charles A. McAlpine had been connected by a private telegraph line.[34]

Everyone from railroaders to travelers to shippers to Mansfield townspeople had been feeling

rather smug over the fact that some time had elapsed since the last accident of consequence. But if

one waits long enough, an accident will happen, and the period of euphoria ended on 30 October

1876 with a collision at Mansfield passenger station:

Last Monday afternoon the passenger train for Taunton, due to leave here at 2.50 p. m., was standing at

the depot as usual, when the New York freight train was accidentally switched down upon it, and

owing to the abrupt curve in the track the engineer was unable to see the passenger train in season to

stop his own heavy train. The result was a collision by which the rear end of the passenger car was

thrown from the tracks, the latter being thrown to one side, and causing a very ragged edge on the

depot platform for a distance of 25 or 30 feet. The freight engine New Bedford was considerably

damaged. Excepting the slight delay necessary to get another engine out of the house and ready to go

with the freight, there was no detention of trains, and before night the track was cleared and everything

moving in its proper channel.[35]

535

A month or so later, at the roundhouse, the Clinton engine S. H. Howe, number 16, "after bringing

the 1.45 p.m. train in safely and being snugly housed for the night burst a steam pipe letting the

steam and water out of her boiler in a hurry."[36]

Toward the close of 1876 the Clinton road began placing night-illuminated oil lamps on all their

main track switches, showing, depending on whether the turnout was set "right" or "wrong," a green

or red light.[37]

Boston and Providence limited itself to buying one new locomotive in 1876. The road made a

practice of reusing numbers vacated by engines that had been sold, scrapped or retired, and in this

case the new machine received the number 7 originally assigned to the old Griggs-built 0-6-0

Highlander of 1850, withdrawn from service and due to be scrapped next year. The new number 7

was a 4-4-0 built by Rhode Island (construction number 684) and named Geo. R. Russell. It had 16

by 24-inch cylinders and 66-inch driving wheels.[38]

The year 1877 came in like a lion, with a 15- to 18-inch snowfall on the night of Monday the

second of January that was the heaviest since the storm of ten years before. The Mansfield News tells

us:

Tuesday was a hard day on all the railroads, and the Providence line had its share of trouble. The New

Bedford train, due in Boston at 9.10 did not leave Mansfield until 10.10, and the boat and Shore Line

trains, due in Boston at 6 and 7 a. m., respectively, did not arrive until the middle of the afternoon.[39]

This blanket of white failed to smother Mansfield's pride in itself, however. The local paper, after

commenting arguably that "Framingham is the greatest railroad centre in the country," scores a point

for parochial ego when it adds, "Mansfield is nearly as good a railroad centre, it having railroad

facilities far better than hundreds of places five times its population."[40]

Taunton too had reason to rejoice as Taunton locomotive works resumed operations "with a full

capacity of men for the winter."[41] The company picked up a sizeable contract for Union Pacific

Railroad, and all through 1878 Mansfield residents and the News reporter observed a steady parade

through town of huge engines destined for that western road.

The News in the last week of January 1877 reported that a Boston and Providence freight train 154

cars long, pulled by a single engine, had made its way through the center of town.[42]

In March 1877, Mansfield women were still complaining with increasing energy that a "ladies'

waiting room" was badly needed at the depot, and were ready to take matters into their own hands by

petitioning the railroad.[43]

536

I have not read that the general railroad strike of 1877, which turned so violent and ugly in many

parts of the country, had any major effect on the New England roads, though repercussions of it must

have been felt. In February, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which was formed 13 years

before and still exists as a union, had taken engine crews of the Boston and Maine Railroad out on

strike, the grievances being "non-payment according to the schedule of the brotherhood" and

"abusive treatment" by the road's master mechanic.[44] But I have seen no evidence that either the

Boston and Providence or the Clinton road were affected.

What did continue was the constant reminder that railroading could be a hazardous enterprise. On

the 12th of March,

On Monday morning, as the mail train was approaching Mansfield, at about 8.30 A. M., Mr. G. A.

Mann of Boston, a clerk in the employ of the Boston & Maine [sic] railroad, while standing upon the

car platform became bewildered and fell off receiving several bruises and cuts but was not seriously

injured. An engine was immediately sent back and brought the injured man to the depot, where he was

properly attended by Dr. Perry.[45]

This mishap was followed on the 19th by a Sabbath slip-up at Mansfield roundhouse:

A box car loaded with hay was stood up on end in the turn-table pit near the depot on Sunday

morning last.[46]

And then, not long after the hairbreadth escape of Velorous Hodges, his wife and his clever horse

at Skinner's crossing, came an April classic as a covered carriage driven by John T. Cox, who was

accompanied by his lady friend Miss Lillian Sturdy of Attleborough, was "smashed to flinders" by

the 2:35 train at Green's crossing (Central Street) in Mansfield. The days when hand brakes were the

only means of slowing or stopping trains had gone, and the engineman, seeing the carriage driven in

front of him, "dumped the air" (to use the modern expression for an emergency brake application),

but to no avail. The horse, an innocent victim if ever there was one, was badly injured and the

occupants were found under the wreckage, fortunately with no serious hurts; though the remains of

the carriage had to be sent home to Attleborough "in a basket."[47]

* * *

537

The completion on 1 July 1876 of the costly, graft-ridden, man-killing Hoosac railroad tunnel

through the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts after 21 years of work indirectly benefited

Mansfield and the Boston and Providence, as witness the Mansfield News a week after the carriage

crash:

With the exception of three cars, the whole of a freight train arriving at Mansfield from Fitchburg

Wednesday evening, consisted of corn consigned to one firm – Peckham, Ralph & Co. of Providence.

We understand this to be the first of ninety-five cars of corn shipped to this firm from the West via the

Hoosac Tunnel, Fitchburg and Mansfield.[48]

Even more important to Boston and Providence was this evidence that the original rail-water

rationale for the railroad was still paying off more than four decades after the line's inception,

proving that not everyone wanted to go from the Hub to Gotham by the all-rail (and river ferry)

route:

The new route to New York opens on Monday, May 7th via the Boston & Providence railroad to Fox

Point wharf, Providence, thence by the magnificent steamers Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Forty

two miles only of rail will put one on board the steamer at 7 P. M., and after a good night's rest lands at

New York.[49]

Rutherford B. Hayes, four months in the office of President of the United States, was aboard a

special Providence-bound train that made a brief stop at Mansfield after the regular 8:40 train had

pulled out of its way on the morning of Thursday, 28 June 1877. Conductor of the presidential train

was "Ham" Nason, son of Boston and Providence official Daniel Nason and "something of a

personality himself." Folks from Mansfield, Foxborough and other nearby towns crowded around.

When the President and his party emerged on the platform of the drawing-room car Narragansett,

Cobb's Band struck up "Hail to the Chief," several large flags were displayed and two cannon on the

vacant dump lot that later became North Common, just east of the station, made the crowd jump by

booming a salute, after which Hayes shook hands with some of the people.

Hayes was scheduled to make an extended stop at Providence, and a reception committee from

that city, getting ahead of themselves, had come up by train to Mansfield to meet him, their arrival

putting the noses of the local party, which had prepared a careful set-piece welcome, out of joint –

the Providence people hogged the car steps so no one else could get by. But a Mansfield man named

538

Leonard Sweet boarded the President's train and between that town and Providence rode with Hayes

in his special car, pointing out the places of interest, such as they were, on the way to the Rhode

Island capital. Boston and Providence locomotives that day were decorated (how is not specified) in

the President's honor.[50]

Still another distinguished domestic visitor to Mansfield, Civil War hero and ex-president Ulysses

S. Grant, was yet to come.

Now, as summer approached, so did the pleasant season for excursion trains:

Upon the 2nd of July a Drawing Room car will be placed on the road, running from Boston to New

Bedford for the accommodation of the [Martha's] Vineyard travel. The car will be in charge of Ira G.

Nichols, of Foxboro, who for the past three years has run the same car down from the [White?]

mountains.[51]

In that pleasant summer getaway village of Sharon, a picnic spot called Burkhardt's Grove had

"been hired this season by the B. & P. RR. Corporation, and will find very extensive use doubtless,

as trains run to accommodate parties visiting the resort." On 23 July a very large picnic was to be

held there by Germans from Boston, who would be delivered and later taken home by a special

train.[52]

The world continued to be divided between haves and have-nots. In contrast to the increasing

numbers of unemployed still roaming the countryside, excursion trains too numerous to count passed

through Mansfield in all four directions during those halcyon days – I have mentioned but a few. The

Clinton road ran a special from Lowell and Fitchburg to Silver Springs, on the Rhode Island coast,

where some of the riders savored one of the celebrated shore dinners prepared and served by one

Hiram, who claimed to be "Chief of the Wampanoags." The same road ran an unstated number of

excursion trains carrying 1000 passengers from Fitchburg, Lowell and Framingham – 60 more

boarded at Mansfield – to a great Sunday religious camp meeting at Lakeville, on the New Bedford

railroad; and scheduled another Vineyard excursion from Walpole by way of Mansfield.[53]

539

What might have been a serious accident was turned into a joke when in the evening dusk of 3

October, Boston and Providence car inspector Edwin Lang, checking for hot journal boxes on a

special train that had halted at Mansfield, forgot or failed to realize he was on the narrow bridge

across Murphy's (later Card‟s) Pond just south of the depot, stepped back to admire his work, as

good workmen are wont to do, and kersplashed into the water. He was the object of much ribbing

after being fished from the pond.[54]

But exactly a week later, after dark, Henry Jones, a 30-year-old English-born weaver at the

Dodgeville mill, who had been seen earlier in possession of a liquor bottle, was struck and horribly

mangled by the 6:28 train from Providence "a few rods" below Hebronville station.

Meanwhile, Mansfield's trusty depot agent Fred Paine, on Saturday the 6th of October, took his

first full day's vacation in a dozen years, traveling by way of the Clinton to Keene, New

Hampshire.[55]

In October 1877, 11 years ahead of the actual event, the first rumors began flying that Boston and

Providence would be leased by the growing Old Colony Railroad. Passengers and commuters were

not worried, however; they knew Old Colony could not raise their fares because Boston and

Providence already charged all the law allowed: two and a half cents per mile![56]

Changes were in store for some of the passenger schedules, however. A. A. Folsom, Boston and

Providence superintendent at Boston, issued the following:

SPECIAL NOTICE 39 Boston, Nov. 1, 1877

1st. The M&F [Mansfield & Foxboro] trains which leave Providence for Mansfield at 6:20AM

and Mansfield for Providence at 7:45PM will be discontinued.

2nd. Express No. 2 will leave Providence at 1:55PM instead of 2[?--illegible]:10PM, due in

Boston at 1:35PM as formerly.

3rd. The Steamboat Train will leave Providence for Boston at 6:00AM instead of 4:15AM.

4th. The time of Shore Line train from Providence will be shortened commencing at Boston

Switch, so as to be due in Boston at 8:35PM.

5th. The Stoughton train will leave at 5:35PM instead of 5:55PM.

6th. A car for Canton and Stoughton will be attached to the 6:00PM train to be switched at Canton,

and the Stoughton Branch train will resume its 5:10PM trip from Stoughton to connect with 5:27

accommodation at Canton and 6:00PM from Boston.

7th. The 7.00AM train from Dedham will occupy third track from Forest Hills to Boston.

A. A. FOLSOM SUPT.[57]

540

The Mansfield News eight days after issuance of this notice echoed those parts of it pertinent to

local rail patrons, adding that the northward “Steamboat Train” would leave Mansfield at the more convenient time of 6:40 a. m. and arrive in Boston at 7:00.[58]

The paper of a week later carried several items of railroad interest. Boston and Providence had

erected a "new signal house and staff" at Mansfield station. "The staff is of iron and stands 50 feet

above ground. The signal is also a great improvement on the old one it being operated very quickly

and from inside the house." By "staff" was meant a mast for the ball type of signal, raised and

lowered on a chain. It was to remain in service for the next ten years.

The same newspaper noted that a considerable amount of coal was passing through Mansfield

from New Bedford, headed for the new State prison at Concord; and that:

A little pile-up of dump cars happened early in the week on the B., C., F. and N. B. RR., about half a

mile south of the Mansfield station. One train was detained about an hour.[59]

A blow to industry in Mansfield as well as to the town itself was the sudden death on 22

November 1877 of foundry owner Gardner Chilson, one month before his 72nd birthday. As was his

custom, he had gone by train to his Boston store that morning but returned on the noon train,

complaining of extreme pain in his stomach and chest. On reaching his home, he lay down and a

doctor was summoned, but he died at about one p. m.[60]

That ancient blemish on the landscape, the former Taunton Branch engine house at Mansfield,

now a passenger car house, which had nearly burned in April of the preceding year and which many

hoped would be eliminated, was instead refurbished:

The old car house opposite the Mansfield House is being braced up, repaired and reshingled, and a

double track laid in it. It will be used in future for the housing of the cars which compose the 7 A. M.

train going north over the B. C. F. & N. B. road. It was fervently hoped by the neighbors, that old

building would be removed.[61]

541

In 1877 Boston and Providence acquired only one new locomotive. This was second number 11,

Henry Dalton, a 4-4-0 built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works (their number 694) with 16 by 24-

inch cylinders and 66-inch drivers. Two other engines, the still youthful number 7, Highlander, and

first number 11, Mansfield, were scrapped; and the old Taghonic, built by Griggs in 1848 and never

assigned a road number, was presumably dragged out of the goldenrods and sold.[62]

By 1878, when the capacity of the average locomotive tender tank was 1500 gallons, 100 trains

daily passed through Providence; this may have been when that many trains a day stopped at

Mansfield to take water.[63]

On the first day of February 1878 a heavy snowfall with drifts up to five or six feet resulted in

trains being blocked. The evening run from Framingham, due in Mansfield at 7:45 p. m., though

hauled by two engines, Foxboro and Marlboro with a large snowplow in front, ran into such a

massive drift near Spring Street in Foxvale or Paineburg that the plow was broken and derailed and

Foxboro lost its pilot and headlight. Not many persons had braved the storm to ride the train, but

they were getting hungry, and Conductor B. (for“Bftsplk”?) F. Lincoln, in violation of a maritime tradition that the captain never leaves his ship, left the train and struggled on foot to Mansfield and

back with food for his passengers. Just as well! – it was 8:15 next morning before the train reached

Mansfield depot, only a little over a mile away. The same storm delayed the milk train, so there was

no milk delivery for 48 hours, and all extra freights on the Clinton were canceled for that day.[64]

Yet the railroads bounced back quickly, as they always do, and before long "special theatre

trains" resumed running between Mansfield and Boston, to be followed by the spring excursion

trains.

The News reported on Friday, 1 March 1878, that "old citizens were pleased to see the genial face

of W. Raymond Lee, Esq.,the first Superintendent of the Boston & Providence Railroad, who was in

town Tuesday last." The paper reminded its readers that there had been but two successors to Lee,

who had held the position for over 20 years: Daniel Nason and A. A. Folsom.

The cadre of Mansfield ladies who a year ago had expressed dissatisfaction with the facilities

afforded by the town's dismal depot, had got frustrated with waiting for a waiting room and in

March carried their campaign one step further when over a hundred of them signed a petition

"asking the railroad company to provide a ladies' waiting room" and sent it to corporate

headquarters. The paper commented, "We have, without doubt, the shabbiest station on the whole

line, which has often been wondered at by strangers . . . ."[65]

542

This was followed by a depot-related complaint of another sort that, sadly, turned out to be a

prediction:

Recent accidents, and sudden attacks of illness at Mansfield depot and upon incoming trains, have

developed the fact that there is no provision for the care of or implements for the removal of disabled

persons falling upon the hands of the railroad officials here. The physicians called to attend these

cases make serious complaint of the lack of these necessities at a station like ours, where trains are

passing at almost every hour of the day and night.

Readers of the News had hardly time to nod their heads in agreement with this ongoing beef

when they were shocked to learn, from the same paper, of another horrid death on the railroad. The

Clinton railroad's car inspector at Mansfield freight yard, Captain Lewis Stevens, was an interesting

case: a former shipmaster and owner who had spent 20 years at sea but as the result of a shipwreck

was left penniless and had turned to the railroad for employment. Railroading then and now allows

little tolerance for absent-minded error, and in tragic contrast to the experience of Boston and

Providence car inspector Edwin Lang, whose misstep merely caused him a dunking, a careless

moment on Stevens's part proved to be his last. Exiting the door of a woodshed close to the Clinton

tracks, he stepped into the path of the switching engine W. D. Peck. A sharp curve prevented

engineer L. R. Hartwell or brakeman James Brown from seeing Stevens in time to stop. Both legs

were cut off and his hip broken, and the unfortunate man died on the spot. He was replaced in the

post of Clinton car inspector by 55-year-old F. F. Dinsmore.[66]

In April 1878 the Canton (later Canton Junction) depot was broken into and burglarized and the

company safe "rifled and plundered" with a loss of $300 in gold, bills, currency and silver. Worse,

two railroad bonds worth $2000 belonging to agent Jacob Silloway, his personal savings of 14

years, also were stolen. A new and stronger safe was purchased to replace the old.

In the town of Canton, as had happened in Mansfield, the population center had moved to a point

near the South Canton (currently known simply as Canton) depot, which when first erected on the

Stoughton Branch in 1844-45 had been considered inconveniently far removed from civilization.

Here too there was dissatisfaction with the depot, and in consideration of this shift in the municipal

center of gravity, on 17 June 1878 the townspeople voted in favor of a resolution asking the

president and directors of the Boston and Providence to erect a new and more substantial South

Canton station.

543

The railroad answered that they were chopping expenses because of a decline in business and

revenues and furthermore they did not own enough land in South Canton to build a larger depot. An

inadequate station was not the only problem Cantonians found with Boston and Providence. The

Kinsley Iron grade crossing at South Canton station was considered dangerous, and even riskier

was the mainline crossing at Canton where one had to pass over four tracks just to reach the depot

and Jacob Silloway's office.[67]

Canton authorities on the evening of 26 September telegraphed Mansfield depot agent Fred Paine

"to arrest a Negro and a white man on a coming train for attempting a theft at Canton Station." Only

the black man was spotted at Mansfield, and he fled.[68]

The former Taunton Branch had itself a wreck on 24 August when an afternoon Clinton freight

train derailed a mile from Norton station where track men had removed a rail. The engine and

several cars turned on their sides, without serious injuries to any of the crew. The 3 p. m.

southbound passenger train from Mansfield for the Martha's Vineyard ferry was stopped in time to

keep it from hitting the derailed freight. It then backed to Mansfield and was switched to the Boston

and Providence. The Chartley branch between Attleborough and Taunton here proved its usefulness,

as the passenger train reached its destination via that route.[69]

And on 5 October, "The 'lightning train' was delayed about twenty minutes a quarter of a mile

south of Mansfield depot, on Saturday by a hot box on the palace car."[70]

Sparks from the engine of the "lightning train" were responsible on 22 October for torching a

sizeable tract of woods along the east side of the tracks in Mansfield between the Central Foundry

and Chauncy Street, causing a group of American Indians living temporarily on the site to break

camp and depart in a hurry.[71]

The News noted that for the purpose of expediting freight movements, the Clinton road's yard

office at Mansfield, in the charge of Charles A. McAlpine, which already enjoyed a telegraph

connection to the Boston and Providence freight station, now had direct communication by wire

with both New Bedford and Lowell.[72] All hail the progressive technology of the Clinton! But the

paper does not explain why, when the engine on the Boston and Providence train due at Mansfield

at 11:40 a. m. on 4 November conked out at Sharon, instead of a rescue call being dispatched by

wire, a man on a handcar had to be sent pumping over the rails for seven miles to Mansfield to

summon another locomotive.[73]

544

No freight trains ran over the Boston and Providence on Christmas day. But a passenger train was

involved in a significant grade crossing bash on that otherwise happy morn, as for the second time

in a little more than two years a dairy cart was wrecked on a Mansfield crossing. A young milkman

named Thomas Skinner waited with his horse and cart at a private crossing near the freight house

for the 9 a. m. southbound train to pass. As soon as what he thought was the last car cleared the

crossing planks, with the impatience of youth he urged his horse forward just in time to make the

surprise acquaintance of the detached rear cars of the train, the New Bedford section, which had

been uncoupled in flight by a brakeman and were coasting silently along in the wake of the

Providence section with the intent that they be switched onto the Taunton branch, where they would

be stopped with hand brakes and another engine attached.

This kind of maneuver, now considered so outrageously risky as to be universally outlawed in

passenger service but in the 19th century an every-day practice, was called a "running switch," and

lucky it was that it did not prove fatal. The first of the free-rolling cars struck the milk cart squarely,

demolishing it and throwing young Skinner down between the rails. Two or three cars passed over

him, the brake bars dragging him 60 feet. The rolling wheels amputated his right thumb, his body

was covered with bruises and his clothes partly torn off. Yet he lived, and had something to tell

about for the rest of his life. An investigation found that the train crew were not at fault –

"dropping" passenger cars had been a practice at Mansfield for forty years – but the local paper

observed that several railroads in Massachusetts had abolished so-called "flying switches" because

of the danger involved.[74] When one stops to reflect that these coasting cars (in England called

“slip carriages”) contained men, women and children, some of whom were standing in the car aisles with bundles in their hands in preparation for alighting, it is a wonder the practice was not halted

long before, or that there were so few injuries and accidents.

Boston and Providence in 1878 acquired one new locomotive and gave it a number previously

assigned to another engine. Second 3, Thomas B. Wales, named for the road's first president, a

4-4-0, was built by Rhode Island (construction number 732) with 66-inch drivers and 17 by 24-inch

cylinders, with a weight of 73,900 pounds. During the same year a 30-year-old Roxbury engine, the

unnumbered Narragansett, which apparently had been sidelined for 20 years, was sold.[75]

It was not long before the locomotives and their engineers enjoyed running over superior

track. Although some steel rails had replaced wrought iron on the Boston and Providence as early

as 1873, in 1879 steel rails were spiked down over the entire 43-mile main line.[76]

545

NOTES

1. New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

2. Reprinted in Mansfield News 14 Jan. 1876. From this time on the “Shore Line Express” was referred to in the Mansfield paper as "the lightning train."

3. Mansfield News 21 Jan. 1876.

4. Boston & Providence public timetable number 31, effective 31 Jan. 1876, courtesy of L. V. Cotnoir.

5. Mansfield News 18 Feb. 1876. The pay cut came four years after an increase in wages granted by Boston &

Providence to its conductors and engineers. (Dedham Transcript 23 Feb. 1872.)

6. Mansfield News 14 Apr. 1876.

7. A committee appointed by the Narrow-Gauge Railway Convention, held at St. Louis in June 1872, reached the

following arguable conclusion: “The reduction of rates which would follow the general introduction of the narrow-

gauge system would add millions of dollars per annum to their income, and at the same time largely benefit the

consumer. General development can only be accomplished by cheap transportation. We may therefore conclude that the

narrow-gauge railway is by far the best means for a general and quick development of our resources . . . .” (Harper‟s Apr. 1873, p. 790).

8. Another contemplated narrow gauge road, impractical almost to the point of lunacy, was the Rhode Island &

Massachusetts Railroad, planned to run “from tide water” at Providence to Worcester, parallel to the standard gauge line

already operating between those two points (Keith 1872). In 1907 an intercity electric line to be called the Boston &

Providence Interurban Co. was proposed between the two state capitals, and surveying was done for the right-of-way

through Mansfield and Foxborough, but the road was never built (Mansfield town rep‟t for yr ending 31 Dec. 1907, p. 19).

9. Mansfield News 26 Jan., 25 May 1877.

10. Mansfield News 21 Apr. 1876.

11. Mansfield News 28 Apr. 1876.

12. Mansfield News 19 May 1876.

13. NHRHTA calendar May 1979.

14. Twenty-five year reminiscences of H. Fisher (C. Fisher's father) 1901. I cannot identify the "Canton, Stoughton

& North Easton;" perhaps the Stoughton Branch or Easton Branch RR was meant.

15. Mansfield News 26 May 1876. Whether the later fire signal of one long and three short blasts on the engine

whistle, repeated, was then in use is not stated.

16. The Mansfield News notes on 27 Oct. that the building ruins were soon "to be disposed of."

17. Copeland 1931f, who dates the fire as about 1877.

18. Harlow 1946: 233. Much of New England's coal arrived at that time in large schooners from points south.

546

19. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 32; NHRAA 1940-52; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: bull. v. 2, n. 1, p, 6 (which gives the date

as 1874); North Attleboro News Leader 15 Mar. 1973: 8; Patton 1988: 23; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 45. The 15-mile

Fairhaven Branch Railroad was chartered 1 May 1849 and opened 2 Oct. 1854 (NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 14, 22),

serving a three-times-a-week Fairhaven to Martha's Vineyard steamboat; on 1 July 1861 the New Bedford & Taunton

acquired its franchise and property (op. cit.: 26). By 1965, when I rode over it at the throttle of a New Haven diesel-

electric freight locomotive (courtesy of the engineer, who figured I could do no harm on this cowpath of a railroad), the

line had deteriorated to the point where the maximum authorized speed was five mph, we were required by rule to stop

and flag-protect all grade crossings (dirt roads), and those of us in the cab windows constantly had to dodge intruding

tree branches. At that time the line served only a large sand operation known as Marion Pit. Standard Oil

multimillionaire Henry H. Rogers commenced his working career as a brakeman on this road (Harlow 1946: 227n).

20. BCF&NB employes' timetable No. 42, 26 June 1876, courtesy of L. V. Cotnoir.

21. Mansfield News 9 June 1876.

22. Mansfield News 9 June 1876.

23. Mansfield News 16 June 1876.

24. Mansfield News 7 July 1876. I am unable to identify Pearl St. station.

25. Mansfield News 4 Aug. 1876. A watchman at the same crossing about 1937 probably saved my life when,

observing that an oncoming freight had stopped short, I ducked under the lowered gate to cross the tracks. The

gateman's yell alerted me to a passenger train approaching at speed from behind the halted freight. I was too

embarrassed by my own teen-age stupidity to thank him. Belatedly, I do so now.

26. Ozog in NHRHTA 1984: 8; NHRHTA Newsletter 1992: n. 1, p. 10. I have heard current Amtrak locomotive

engineers use the expression "Tin Bridge."

27. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 69.

28. Copeland 26 Jan. 1951. This express building, which stood south of the main depot, was used temporarily as a

passenger station after the brick depot was demolished in 1952 and before the new "temporary" station was erected in

1956.

29. Copeland 1931c; Mansfield News 15 June 1877.

30. Mansfield News 8 Sept., 22 Sept. 1876.

31. Mansfield News 20 Oct. 1876.

32. Mansfield News 2 Nov. 2001, "125 yrs ago." I do not know which crossing was called "Williams;" it may have

been Elm or West St.

33. Mansfield News 24 Mar. 1877. Hodges later became a Mansfield selectman. Skinner's crossing was situated just

south of the present School Street overpass. Into the 1930s it was protected only by painted warning signs and a

watchman who on the approach of a train held up a "Stop" sign facing highway traffic. The deaths of two respected

Mansfield men on route to a Saturday afternoon Brown University football game, when their car was totaled by an

express train, prompted the construction of the overpass (New Haven R. R. bridge no. 26.58), which in 2003-04 was

rebuilt. As to the “cause” of such accidents: indicative of the public mindset is a more recent newspaper headline that reads, “Killer Tracks Claim Another Life!”

34. Mansfield News 27 Oct., 8 Dec. 1876.

547

35. Mansfield News 3 Nov. 1876. Apparently there were no injuries. New Bedford, number 29, Rhode Island-built

in 1869, was a Clinton engine. Luckily much of the force of the impact was expended sideways on the curve. One can

assume that the rear car of the Taunton train had to be detached and its occupants transferred forward to undamaged

coaches before that run could depart.

36. Mansfield News 15 Dec. 1876.

37. Mansfield News 15 Dec. 1876. Green at the time was used to indicate caution; red meant stop, as it does now,

and white indicated proceed. According to one story, the use of white as a clear indication was later discontinued

because of a collision near Taunton caused when the red glass roundel fell from the spectacle of a signal displaying

"stop," showing the white light and causing one of the engineers to think the track was clear. Former New Haven R. R.

official John Droege (1916-69: 65) tells another version: that "in 1898 or 1899, following an unsatisfactory confusion of

an outside white light with a white (proceed) light of a fixed signal," the New Haven pioneered in introducing a yellow

light as a caution signal, allowing green to be used for proceed.

38. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

39. Mansfield News 5 Jan. 1877.

40. Mansfield News 12 Jan. 1877.

41. Mansfield News 5 Jan. 1877.

42. Mansfield News 26 Jan. 1877. Even Penn Central with its 144-car Providence-Framingham freights did not

outdo this! By contrast, CSX's LB-735, in 2006 the only daily freight through Mansfield, seldom has more than two

dozen cars.

43. Mansfield News 8 Mar. 2002, "125 yrs ago."

44. The managements of the Erie, New York Central, Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railroads not only had

acted in collusion to raise westbound freight rates 50 percent, but beginning in 1873 they cut employe wages across the

board by up to 35 percent. The strike began in summer of 1877 on the B&O when angry trainmen walked out, and

efforts by the company to break the strike resulted in it quickly spreading across the country, bringing many railroads to

a halt. Generals George F. Crook and Alfred H. Terry were summoned from their Indian-fighting duties in the West, and

Federal troops on occupation duty in the post-war South and state militias were called out in some areas to break the

strike by force of arms; a considerable amount of rioting, bloodshed and property damage occurred. By the end of two

weeks so many of the strikers had been jailed or fired that the action, which had been brought on by the greed of the

companies, petered out. The cost to the four railroads was $9 million.(Weller 1969: 12; D. Brown 1977: 201-2). Henry

Ward Beecher, the most influential preacher in the U. S. and the Jerry Falwell of his time, was on the same page with

the railroad corporations and the federal government when he denounced the strike as due to the workmen's sinfulness

in being unwilling to "nobly bear" their "self-induced poverty." Beecher, who enjoyed his elegant dining at Delmonico's

in New York City, wrote in the Christian Union, "It is said that a dollar a day is not enough for a wife and five or six

children. . . . But is not a dollar a day enough to buy bread? Water costs nothing; and a man who cannot live on bread is

not fit to live" (Baltzell 1966: 101). Information on the presumably related B&M strike is from the Mansfield News 16

Feb. 1877.

45. Mansfield News 16 Mar. 1877.

46. Mansfield News 24 Mar. 1877.

47. Mansfield News 13 Apr. 1877.

548

48. Mansfield News 20 Apr. 1877. The idea of piercing Hoosac Mountain in the Berkshires was born in 1825 as part

of the abortive Boston to Hudson River canal described in an early chapter. Construction of the railroad tunnel, the Big

Dig of its day that proved a political and financial disaster but a technical triumph, began in 1855. Its completion forced

Oliver Wendell Holmes to eat his words: "When the first locomotive rolls through the Hoosac Tunnel bore, then order

your ascension robes." Ten years after its opening, Massachusetts was still budgeting half its revenue to pay off the

Hoosac debt.

49. Mansfield News 4 May 1877.

50. Mansfield News 29 June 1877. Copeland 1932b and 26 Jan. 1951 describes Hayes's visit. Most of the band

members worked in Doliver Spaulding's large jewelry shop near the depot, and were granted permission on such

occasions to leave their benches, grab their instruments, which they kept at the shop for noon practice sessions, and

head for the station. A Walpole crowd who two days before gathered at their depot in hopes of getting a glimpse of the

President were disgusted when his special train highballed through the "know-nothing crossing" at 50 mph.

51. Mansfield News 15 June 1877.

52. Mansfield News 20 July 1877.

53. Mansfield News 27 July, 24 Aug. 1877. The last true Wampanoag had died 20 years before, but who quibbled

when a mouth-watering seafood dinner was to be had after alighting from the open-windowed cars! Though possessing

an ancestor of unproven Nipmuc Indian origin, I am an exception to the rule that all those of partial Indian descent were

and still are either “Chiefs” or “Princesses.”

54. Mansfield News 5 Oct. 1877.

55. Mansfield News 12 Oct. 1877.

56. Galvin 1987: 16.

57. NNL Apr. 1976: 7. Note that the former "West Junction" was now called "Boston Switch," as it is on current

employe timetables.

58. Mansfield News 9 Nov. 1877. The stated time – 24 miles in 20 minutes – is obviously an error.

59. Mansfield News 16 Nov. 1877, reprinted in the News 28 Apr. 1911.

60. Mansfield News 23 Nov. 1877. The paper gives the probable cause of death as "apoplexy," but a heart attack or

aneurism of the aorta seems as likely. The foundry floundered for a time, but was rescued and set on its feet by trustee

Judge Edmund Hatch Bennett (from whom my father and I derived our middle names), the dean of Boston University

law school and the first mayor of Taunton, who thereby saved the jobs of many Mansfield residents including my great-

grandfather Hiram Reed.

61. Mansfield News 7 Dec. 1877.

62. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

63. Copeland 1931f, 1936-56: 65; Greenwood 1998: 7.

64. Mansfield News 8 Feb. 1878. The usually infallible Miss Copeland (1933b) has the date a year off, in 1879.

65. Mansfield News 15 Mar. 1878.

66. Mansfield News 22 Mar., 29 Mar. 1878. Lewis was survived by three sons, one of whom lived in Brockton.

67. Galvin 1987: 12.

68. Mansfield News 27 Sept. 1878. Canton station was to become Canton Junction in 1879.

69. Mansfield News 30 Aug. 1878.

70. Mansfield News 11 Oct. 1878.

549

71. Mansfield News 25 Oct. 1878. Genuine Indians from Maine, perhaps in search of farm work or (as Thoreau

tells) trying to sell baskets and other hand-made wares, habitually camped during several months of the year in parts of

Mansfield.

72. Mansfield News 1 Nov. 1878.

73. Mansfield News 8 Nov. 1878.

74. Mansfield News 27 Dec. 1878. Even the simple "drop" maneuver is restricted now to freight cars. A veteran

railroad man remarks that dropping out cars while the train is in motion was a relic of "the olden days when 'Safety

First' would have been a term of derision rather than of commendation . . . ." (Droege 1916-69: 185.) See Appendix G

for similar practices in Britain.

75. C. Fisher 1938b: 81; Edson 1981: xvii.

76. Copeland 1936-56: 63. English-rolled steel rails were first used in the U. S. in 1863 and lasted 15 times as long

as iron rails in the same track. The 1855 patent of the Bessemer process reduced steel's cost about 80%. In 1865 a

Chicago rolling mill turned out the first American steel rails.

550

33 – Dangerous days and dismal depots

Early in 1879 the Mansfield News informs us of an apparently new and rather unusual industry that

was contributing its bit to Boston and Providence freight revenues:

Quite a large share of the molasses hogsheads sent out from the West Indies must be bound with

hoops sent out from this vicinity, thousands being shipped from the depot each winter by Mr. S. S.

Wilber, and from Foxboro by Mr. Asahel Dean. They are shipped in bundles of 25 each, by rail to

Boston, and from thence by water.[1]

It was in the same year that the three-year-old, 126-mile Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New

Bedford Railroad, which the year before had temporarily fended off its creditors by conning them

into taking preferred stock instead of cash in payment of a debt,[2] was leased for 999 years (three

decades longer than the legendary life of Methuselah) by the Old Colony Railroad,[3] which back

on 1 October 1872 had arisen new-born from a name-change of the previous Old Colony and

Newport. On the subject of this consolidation the News lets us know that:

By the terms of the lease, ratified between the B. C. F. & N. B., and Old Colony Railroads, the

former leases to the latter for the term of 996 [sic] years its own line of railway and all branches, with

all claims against the Framingham & Lowell Railroad Company and the Fall River Railroad

Company.

The editor, anticipating a saving in printers' supplies and typesetting labor, was unable to resist

exulting: "What a deal of time and ink will be saved by the dropping of the long handle heretofore

attached to the B. C. F., etc., etc., etc."[4]

Quoting a Boston paper, the News goes on:

With one exception the rail system of the Old Colony Company is the most extensive in New

England. Under its management 475 miles of rail-lines are operated, besides which it controls the Fall

River steamship line to New York, and the Old Colony line of steamers to the Vineyard and

Nantucket.

551

Adding these 225 miles of water routes, its total area of operation extends over 700 miles. In the

transportation of its great and growing business it employs 2522 men, 115 locomotives, 266

passengers [sic] and 2397 freight cars and 7 large steamers.[5]

One week later the News observes that "Important changes are made in the Old Colony trains

south of Mansfield." This was followed by a bit of interesting speculation and then some facts. It

may be remembered that the 3.4-mile Stoughton Branch Railroad, chartered, organized and

mortgaged to Boston and Providence in 1844 and opened between Canton (later Canton Junction)

and Stoughton in 1845, had been operated by the Providence road but as a separate corporate entity

from its beginning until 4 March 1873, when the tiny line was merged into the larger corporation.

Now the Mansfield News tells us:

It is rumored that the Stoughton branch of the Boston & Providence Railroad, is to be extended to

Brockton. The project is looked upon favorably by Brockton, as it will not only bring additional

trade to that town, but give them also another route to Boston. It is said the cost of construction will

be not over eighty thousand dollars, and a wealthy capitalist has offered to take the entire stock if the

road is built.[6]

Matters in this regard gave all appearances of moving briskly, though as might be expected the

estimated cost increased, because three and a half months later the same paper reported:

Engineer Minton's surveys and estimates for the construction of the new railroad between Brockton

and Stoughton have been received, and a complete basis for future operations is now in hand. The

entire cost of the road from Stoughton to Brockton, including excavations, grading, masonry, road

bed, rails, ties, fences, depots, etc., but not including land damages, foots up to $98,005; and from

Brockton to Campello $25,560 more.[7]

Skipping ahead nearly to the end of the year, we have more news related to this project:

Rumors have reached this village [Mansfield], in an indirect manner, during the past week, to the

effect that active measures were being taken by Brockton and Rockland people towards building the

railroad chartered several years since between Brockton and Mansfield. In corresponding with

business men of Brockton to learn the truth of the statements, we find that they are only rumors, but

the assurance is given that something will doubtless shortly be done, and the desire is strongly

expressed that the day is not far distant when the two towns will be connected by rail.[8]

552

News of the Brockton connection was revived as late as August 1881, when it was reported that

The scheme to connect Abington and neighboring towns with Providence and Taunton by railroad

with Brockton and Mansfield, which some months ago was given a boom, is again being agitated.[9]

The "boom," "active measures," expressions of strong desire, and agitation notwithstanding, the

rumors remained rumors, and the proposed Brockton line that would have turned Mansfield into a

five-way junction went the way of the Mansfield-Woonsocket branch and the Boston-Wrentham-

Providence narrow gauge of several years before – it never cleared the runway. The general

financial situation was still depressed; it was reported that in 1879 a total of 65 railroads throughout

the country were sold under mortgage foreclosures.[10]

* * *

Those folks dwelling within earshot of the tracks had to get used to a new locomotive whistle

warning for grade crossings, as in 1879 the Old Colony, probably in an attempt to stem the

increasing number of collisions at public highways, introduced a signal that has persisted with one

minor modification to this day:

Some of the Old Colony engineers have got the hang of the new crossing signal, and can give the two

long and two short whistles. It don't [sic] have any more soothing effect upon the horses, all the

same, as the old signal.[11]

New whistle signal or no, grade crossing accidents continued to occur at Mansfield, in which

horses though not humans were killed and vehicles demolished. In March, Granville Williams's

meat wagon was struck by a train from Taunton, the poor horse, which probably was only obeying

it‟s driver‟s order to “giddap” or disobeying his order to “whoa,” being thrown to "nearly the height of the smokestack" and receiving injuries that proved fatal. Williams appeared not seriously hurt,

but since the accident "has been wandering in mind." A week later, however, it was reported that

through the "generosity of the Old Colony railroad, Mr. Williams has been reimbursed for his loss

of horse and wagon."[12]

And on 7 April, on the Boston and Providence:

553

A little girl about nine years age got upon the rear of a freight train last week Friday afternoon, as it

was leaving Hyde Park, and before she could get off the car was moving so rapidly she dared not

attempt it. When the train arrived at Mansfield, its first stop, she was discovered on top of the car,

where she had climbed, chilled to the bone, so cold she could hardly stand or talk. She was returned

to her home.[13]

By 25 April, Boston and Providence workmen were preparing to move the corporation's

Mansfield freight house "about one length to the north, nearly upon the site of the Cobb building"

that had burned in May 1876. This, it was felt, would make the adjacent grade crossing much less

dangerous by improving the range of vision, and would "give increased facilities for loading and

unloading freight with but one handling of the same."[14]

On 5 May the original Old Colony Railroad became the Main Line Division of the greater Old

Colony, with headquarters in Boston, and the former Clinton line running north and south from the

junction with Boston and Providence at Mansfield became Old Colony‟s Northern Division, the second division to be established, with headquarters at Fitchburg[15] – for some time after the

merger a separate timetable was issued for this division. (Old Colony operated one other division,

the Cape Cod.) Besides its important Mansfield connection, the new acquisition tied in with the

Boston, Lowell and Nashua Railroad at Lowell, the Fitchburg Railroad at Fitchburg, and the Boston

and Albany at South Framingham. The leased line operated some Boston commuter trains, but most

such service reached The Hub via the Boston and Providence and the Boston and Albany.[16]

On 7 May a bungled burglary occurred at Readville passenger station, where one of the

numerous Paines of Mansfield held sway:

Burglars entered the Readville depot on Wednesday night, and used all the powder they had with

them in trying to force the new safe, without effect. They got thirty or forty dollars' worth of postage

stamps and goods, which will prove a loss to that extent, to Chas. F. Paine, post-master at that place.

This is the second burglary upon the depot since Charlie has been stationed there.[17]

On Wednesday, 4 June, Boston and Providence staged another of its popular 75-cent round trip

excursions with the privilege of a whole day and evening in Boston, inspiring the Mansfield News

to comment, "Every patron of the road must be pleased."[18]

In sharp contrast to Boston and Providence and the New Bedford Railroad, which three years ago

had cut the pay of their workers by ten percent, the Old Colony brightened the lives of their

employes when on payday, Thursday, 10 July, they gave out a raise in wages.[19]

554

Once more the hairy practice of both Old Colony and Boston and Providence of allowing their

passenger trains to make "running switches" while approaching Mansfield depot caused grief, this

time to a spifflicated female Native American, who got scant and by present standards politically

incorrect respect from the local newspaper reporter:

The O. C., 3 p. m. train makes a "flying-switch" after being detached from the Providence train. On

Tuesday, a squaw, somewhat under the influence of Santa Cruz, stepped before the moving train,

which struck her and knocked her down, although she labored under the idea that she was disabled

until ordered to "get up and get," when she arose and walked off apparently as well as ever. A medical

examination had been previously made to ascertain the extent of her injuries.[20]

Even routine railroad work continued to be hazardous to employes as well as to trespassers, as on

13 August my distant relative Elwood Codding "had the ends of three fingers hopelessly crushed

while shackling cars." This was the second accident of the sort at Mansfield in several weeks.[21]

* * *

The Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners had taken notice of Boston and

Providence's capacious and under-used new Park Square depot, and in their 1879 report commented

on it and made an interesting recommendation:

The Boston and Providence corporation has recently built a model station in Boston at a site which

cannot be improved upon. It is nearer the business parts of the city than the dwellings of a great

majority of its wealthier residents. If completely utilized, it could be made to accommodate a vast

amount of travel, – certainly three hundred trains a day. To reach its own Kneeland-street station, the

Boston and Albany [former Boston & Worcester] crosses the tracks of the Boston and Providence

almost at the entrance of this model station. By simply turning its tracks to the left, it could enter it,

and there find every accommodation it needs ready to hand . . . the grade crossings ["diamonds"]

would be done away with, the Boston and Providence station fully utilized, Kneeland Street relieved,

the entire territory owned by the Boston and Albany south of that street could be used exclusively for

local freight purposes by all three of the roads named, if thought desirable, and a perfectly easy access

would be secured for all of them . . . .[22]

555

This was too excellent an idea to be dropped without at least some consideration, and the Boston

and Albany annual report for the year ending 30 September 1879 says:

The subject of improved passenger accommodations in Boston has been brought again before the

Directors in a manner to require decided action. Soon after the matter began to be publicly agitated, a

Committee of the Directors of the Boston and Providence R.R. Co. was appointed to confer with any

similar Committee representing this Company, upon matters relating to the joint use of the Providence

Station by both companies. Several conferences were held, and some correspondence passed between

the representatives of the two companies upon the subject. It was the opinion of your Directors, that

the joint occupancy of that Station by the two companies, each under its separate and independent

management, would be impracticable and undesirable. Some discussion was had upon the terms upon

which the use of the Station could be secured by a consolidation of the two companies, but without

any satisfactory results. Two alternative proposals were suggested by [Boston & Providence]

President Whitney, in behalf of the Directors of his Company, for our consideration. 1st. The Boston

& Albany road to lease one-half of the premises of the Providence road upon terms to be fixed by

referees; 2d. A consolidation of the two companies upon the basis of share for share of stock. Neither

of these propositions met the approval of your Directors, and all further negotiations have been

suspended.[23]

So much for a sensible and logical plan! Boston and Albany resumed diddling ineffectively

around, rebuilding their misplaced Kneeland Street depot, while the Boston and Providence station

remained underutilized. But such good ideas die hard, and the time would come when the

Commissioners' advice would be put into practice; this was twenty years later, when the New

Haven/Boston and Albany Back Bay Station (Boston and Albany called it Trinity Place westbound

and Huntington Avenue eastbound), and later the jointly-owned 28-track South Union Station (as it

was called at first) in Boston, were built. The main difference in the 1899 track layout was that

instead of Boston and Albany eliminating the diamond crossing by bending their incoming main

line to the left in the direction of Park Square, the New Haven (ex-Boston and Providence)

realigned its tracks on a sharp right-hand curve (beginning just north of Yarmouth Street, at Amtrak

milepost 227.25) into Back Bay Station and thence onward to South Station.[24]

556

The two Boston and Providence stations in Canton received new names by an order of the

corporation dated 1 October 1879. Canton, the original mainline depot, now became known as

Canton Junction while the Washington Street (South Canton) station on the Stoughton Branch took

the name of Canton, both names being retained until today. Not everyone was pleased with the

apparent inconsistency of these changes. A local resident named Samuel Noyes, writing (ahead of

time) in the Norfolk County Gazette of 3 September 1879, wanted logically to know why, if

according to "all rules of railroading, all stations where roads diverge should be called junctions . . .

the rule had not been observed at Mansfield or Readville or Forest Hills . . . ."

He went on to note, "Canton people have fretted a good deal in the past ten years on account of

the hardship of being compelled to pay five or eight cents additional when they had purchased a

ticket to Canton intending to go to South Canton. And shippers of freight from distant points to

Canton have been subjected to unexpected expenses and annoyances by the detention of their

merchandise at the old station."

Noyes further complained that despite the new station signs with their "fine and brilliant

speciments [sic] of lettering and gilding" and the new "tickets, baggage checks and all the passenger

details," both the depots remained "unsightly, cramped, inconvenient; the approaches to both

dangerous, the old Canton station being particularly so as no team can be driven up to a platform or

door of the depot house without crossing four tracks on the west side and one track on the east

side."[25]

Down in the southwest corner of West Mansfield, meanwhile, Boston and Providence crews were

installing new abutments and repairing the overpass carrying the highway now known as Gilbert

Street, the roadway being closed for several days as a result.[26]

The popular bicycle craze of that era may have been the inspiration for a handy if somewhat

unsafe device used for on-the-job personal transportation by track employes. According to the

Mansfield paper:

Section Master Merrill, of the Providence road, has built a tricycle suited to run on the rails. Two

wheels run on one rail and the saddle is placed between them as in a bicycle, while an arm supports

the machine upon the third wheel which rides the other rail. It works nicely at a speed up to fifteen

miles an hour or more. Mr. Merrill uses it in connection with his road duties, and finds it of practical

value.[27]

Even conventional forms of manually-driven track vehicles continued to prove hazardous to the

well-being of the operator:

557

John Purdy, a section man belonging in West Mansfield, while turning a crank-car Wednesday

morning, was caught in the crank and thrown over onto the track, the car passing over him. One hip

was fractured and he was otherwise injured. Dr. William G. Allen, who attended him, recommended

his immediate removal to the [unnamed] hospital and he was accordingly removed there.[28]

Late in November, at the large Mansfield station, nine-lived Fred Paine had his second

appointment with moving railroad cars:

Mr. Fred Paine, our genial and courteous station agent, got a severe blow in the back by a moving

dump, on Monday. It was a very narrow [sic]--but then "nears" don't count in railroading . . .29]

"Nears" did count, however, at least in Paine's case, combined perhaps with the infirmities of

middle age, because eventually he gave up his job as ticket agent[30] and was succeeded in that

office by his brother Edward N., who held the job until his death in 1894. Ed also took over the

restaurant business that his brother had run so successfully. The Mansfield historian states that for

the last years of his life, Fred Paine served in the humble role of caretaker at Park Square Station in

Boston, and she notes that daily travelers to and from The Hub in the early years of the 20th century

"marked the somewhat short, rather thick set man in the tall silk hat."[31] But the determined

reader who stays the course with this history will find that in September 1884 Fred was still

wearing the hat of an Old Colony passenger conductor on trains running the less than three miles

between Mansfield and Foxborough.[32]

Whether because of a shortage of available locomotives, a bottlenecked yard or inefficiency in

the dispatching or yardmaster's departments, cars now and then accumulated to an excessive degree

at Mansfield, and the local paper noted that "An unusual event in railroading was the accidental

gathering of 400 cars at Mansfield depot at one time, including passenger trains," which occurred

on Friday, 12 December 1879.[33]

In 1879 Boston and Providence acquired one engine, rebuilt at least one and scrapped one. The

new arrival was number 46, J. H. Wolcott, another Rhode Island 4-4-0 (construction number 793)

with 66-inch drive wheels and 17 by 24-inch cylinders. The first King Philip, renamed

Attleborough, a 40-year-old Locks and Canals product that likewise had embellished the dead line

for a couple of decades, went for scrap in 1879 or 1880.

558

The engines had a large thirst, and in December of that year the Boston and Providence sank a

well just north of their pumping station opposite Mansfield depot, with a reservoir capable of

supplying water to 42 steam locomotives a day. This new well was located on the banks of Rumford

River. So much water was lifted, however, that the flow of the stream, especially in late summer

and early fall, was diminished to the point where the factories and mills downstream weren't

receiving enough to turn their waterwheels. The last mill down the creek, operated by the Fisher

brothers, suffered the most. They took their complaint to the railroad company, which paid them

compensation. But with as many as 100 trains a day stopping at Mansfield for water, and the

railroad having sunk the above-described well only six feet from the river, there is a question how

much good it did.[34] The new well probably was worked by a steam pump instead of a windmill.

Also in 1879-1880, engine 17, Daniel Nason, was modernized and rebuilt, a new boiler and

balanced throttle valve being supplied to Nason by Rhode Island Locomotive Works. At the same

time, boiler jacket, cylinders, pistons, valves and smokestack were replaced and an injector was

added to help the pumps. To top off the work, the engine got a more modern style of bell and

headlight and a new eight-wheeled tender. In September 1880 the lead truck was condemned and

replaced with one from the engine Hyde Park which had been sold to the Providence, Warren and

Bristol Railroad. Thus for all practical purposes Nason became nearly a new locomotive.[35]

Lucky the man who got to run the rejuvenated Nason. During the 1870s and '80s each engine was

run ("owned") by one engineer, who groomed it as carefully as any lover of horses might care for

his favorite steed. Both engine and engineman, insofar as was practicable, were assigned to the

same run. The locomotive Mansfield still pulled the daily Mansfield-to-Providence workmen‟s train called informally the “Tin Kettle,” the engineer of which was Charlie Marden. The Old Colony‟s “Scoot” from Mansfield to Foxborough was hauled, appropriately, by the engine Foxboro.[36]

A minor mishap befell the southbound "lightning express" on 20 January 1880, requiring that it

finish its run into Providence limping on one cylinder:

The engine attached to the Shore Line train, on Tuesday last, when near Central Falls Bridge, burst a

cylinder head, but the train slowly worked its way to Providence, not a great distance, where another

engine was attached.[37]

559

A far more serious accident occurred on 8 February at Mansfield:

William Welch, conductor of the way freight on the Boston & Providence Railroad, in attempting,

Monday, to get to his train while in motion, stepped from the iron bunter of the car and slipped,

falling under the wheels, four of which passed over him, crushing one leg and badly injuring the

other. His scalp was also torn in a shocking manner. He was attended by Dr. Allen, at whose advice he

was placed aboard the 4:15 train from Providence, with a view to his removal to the Massachusetts

General Hospital, but died soon after leaving this town. The body was taken to the residence of Mr.

Welch, father of the deceased, at East Dedham. Conductor Welch was employed nine years by the

road, and leaves a widow residing on Hudson street, Boston.[38]

Boston and Providence already had a freight station in Mansfield, situated on the east side of the

tracks at Washington Square. Now it became Old Colony's turn to erect a freight house:

The Old Colony R. R. Co., is building, north of the engine house, a new freight house for the transfer

of through freight. The tracks have also been re-arranged so as to run on two sides of the house.

Extensive platforms will be built affording facilities for the handling of a large number of cars at one

time. This is a long contemplated improvement and one much needed for the quick dispatch of

freight, which is often hurriedly loaded in cars at the steamboat wharves, and over-crowded freight

houses, and which must be sorted out and put in proper cars that it may reach its destination without

further delay.[39]

The idea of merger was still alive, and in 1880 Boston and Providence was confronted with

accepting or rejecting the course suggested the previous year by the Commissioners of forming a

combination with the Boston and Albany. By March "the threatened consolidation" had become

"the most engrossing topic of conversation among business men." The feeling along the line of the

Boston and Providence Rail Road appeared to be one of unanimous opposition, and "numerously

signed remonstrances" from all the towns between the two terminal cities were sent to the

Massachusetts legislature in hopes they would refuse to grant a corporation by which "one of the

finest railroads in the East," that is, the Providence road, would be absorbed.

While admitting that in certain instances "where a unity of interests is best for both the

companies and the people" mergers of through railroads might be a good idea, the Mansfield

newspaper felt that this was "not one of those cases. With the exception of the New York business,

and the fact that it may be desirable for both to use the same depot in Boston, these roads have no

560

interests in common; and we hardly think the business men of Boston will favor a consolidation of

any of the New York lines, though a scheme to bring the different sections of the 'Stonington Route'

under one management would be looked upon with favor."

It was intended to submit the matter of consolidation to the stockholders of Boston and

Providence about the middle of April. "To say nothing concerning outside objections raised by

parties of influence, though owning no stock in either road, the president and directors of the B. &

P. road, it is understood, are unanimously against consolidation."[40] As already mentioned, Boston

and Albany opposed the idea, and the proposal went down to defeat in the Massachusetts General

Court in 1880.[41] As late as October 1881 the rumor prevailed that the Boston and Providence “is at last to pass into the hands” of Boston and Albany,[42] but it was not to be so.

In March the Boston and Providence restored some passenger trains on the old main line from

East Junction to East Providence, which service had been diminished in 1848.[43] In relation to this

the railroad corporation issued the following notice:

BOSTON & PROVIDENCE RAILROAD, Superintendent's Office

March 22, 1880 NEW SIGNALS AT INDIA POINT

A small building, and tower with signal faces on it (three on the north side three

on the south, and one on the west side), with shutters to cover same, have been erected

on the roof of the engine house. This building, tower, and outside shutters, are painted

nearly black. The inside shutters, and all but the center of the signal faces, are painted

white.[44]

Early spring in New England, before the grass grows green and new leaves sprout on trees and

shrubs, often is a time of wildfires, and in March 1880 it appeared as though Samson's flaming

foxes of the Bible and of Elijah Dean's poem once again had been let loose on the land. The

Mansfield paper noted that at 1:30 p. m., Thursday, 25 March, the "lightning train" had struck again,

sparks from the stack of the passing “Shore Line Express” setting grasslands and woods near King's crossing in East Foxborough afire, the March winds quickly spreading the flames as far as Pratt

Street in Mansfield and uncomfortably near the North Factory in East Mansfield. Railroad

employes, it was observed, "spared no efforts to prevent the spread of the fire."

A worse and potentially disastrous Mansfield fire was ignited the same day and in the same

manner, and was barely headed off. This time, a railroad engineer was the hero:

561

The freight house of the Boston & Providence road, in this place, caught fire upon the roof, on

Thursday last, doubtless from a passing engine. The fire was quickly discovered, and as quickly,

efforts were made to extinguish the rapidly spreading flames. Engineer Delano, of the noon train from

Boston, stopped his engine near the building and supplied water from the tender. It happened that the

boiler at Chilson's Foundry was undergoing a cleaning and consequently empty, and there was little

other available water in the vicinity. With the high winds prevailing, the building must surely have

been consumed as well as the neighboring buildings, but for the timely arrival and prompt action of

Engineer Delano. Mr. Day [the agent] at once concluded that nothing could be done to effectually

stop the spreading flames and quickly removed all valuables, papers and books from his office. The

fire was soon extinguished but not until the roof had burned through, over perhaps an extent of ten

feet square. Thanks are due to all who assisted in saving the property.

And again the same day, it was revealed that a new floor was being laid at Mansfield depot

which was supposed to improve that part of the building immensely. The Mansfield News editor

reported that just that morning, workmen had torn up the original floor boards, and that station

master Paine remarked that he wished he could know how many thousands of riders had shaken the

dust off their feet, as contributors to the pile found beneath the old floor.

Mansfield also, however, had the dubious distinction of housing the highest number of tramps of

any community its size in the state – some 2551 hoboes had stopped off in town in the past year,

according to a count by the overseer of the municipal poor farm. The number even outstripped that

of Massachusetts cities like New Bedford, Fall River, Pittsfield and Haverhill. The chairman of

State Overseers of the Poor, a well known “trampologist,” attributed this trend to Mansfield‟s lack of a work program for the poor and indigent. “Mansfield is an easy mark,” he said.[45]

Bad luck continued to dog the way freight, as another accident, caused by what would appear to

be unsafe practices, claimed a life on 25 May in Attleborough:

At Attleboro, on Tuesday noon, Wm. Allen, a brakeman on the way freight, B. & P. road, while

sitting on a patent brake, the brake collapsed and threw him between the cars when he was run over

and instantly killed.[46]

Work on a long-deserved new passenger station at South Canton, now simply Canton, had begun

by May 1880. The new depot was a brick structure that was to be used until February 1949.[47]

562

Boston and Providence Rail Road‟s latest president, Henry M. Whitney, a man of far-reaching

connections, hired some of The Hub's top architects to design passenger stations for his road,

including the classic granite Stoughton depot planned by Charles Brigham, which a decade or so

ago was restored by the townspeople.[48]

The prosperous town of Dedham too got a new passenger station in 1880, built of brownstone

and designed by the Boston architects Sturgis and Brigham. The interior was said to be as richly

detailed as the exterior was monumentally handsome.[49] Other classic stone depots commissioned

by Whitney and designed by Brigham were those at Hyde Park and Mount Hope on the main line

and Highland Station in West Roxbury on the Roxbury Loop.[50]

Boston and Providence passenger trains on 17 June "were loaded to their utmost capacity,

consisting often of 20 cars hauled by two engines, attesting to the universal interest in the great boat

race on the Seekonk river."[51]

Old Colony's Taunton Branch, not to be outstripped by main line goings on, staged its own wreck

on 14 August:

On Saturday morning, the trains were delayed, and their running time deranged, by a smash up, near

the Attleboro Branch Junction, Old Colony road. An extra freight which left Mansfield at 3 A. M.,

broke in two and coming together again, caused considerable damage to track and cars. No person

was injured.[52]

In an attempt to boost the Mansfield economy, Addison Belcher in late summer offered to give

one acre of land beside the Old Colony track within a quarter mile of that town's depot "to any

responsible party who will occupy the same for manufacturing purposes."[53]

The observant Mansfield News reporter noted in September that

Employees of the B. & P. railroad, have been permanently covering in the large square well sunk on

the banks of the Rumford, just north of the pumphouse. The water is abundant and is of good quality,

and used for all purposes at this station, where the locomotives upon all trains with one two [sic]

exceptions take water.[54]

On 17 September, a longer and heavier train than usual together with the one percent downgrade

approaching Mansfield caused the afternoon freight from Lowell to make a dramatic entrance to the

Old Colony yard when the brakes wouldn't hold and the engine struck and badly damaged two

563

parked dump cars. No injuries occurred.[55]

An even longer train passed through Mansfield a few days later, inspiring the editor of the weekly

Mansfield News to back off and take in the bigger picture. Of this he expressed himself with some

pleasure:

Any observant person cannot fail to see, when standing at the places of reception, and delivering of

merchandise, the difference between the business of the country of 1880, compared with that of

1875-6, and in fact for the past seven years. The freight trains passing daily through this point,

illustrate a portion of this hopeful change. The freight train of a week ago Wednesday evening from

Providence to Boston, known as Conductor Holden's train, consisted of 104 cars, all fully loaded with

merchandise. Engineer Munroe handled this immense team with the ease of a country stage driver,

making just the requisite time to insure the arrival in safety of his valuable cargo. This is the largest

and longest procession which has thundered over the B. & P. railroad for many years, in fact it is

doubtful if ever a larger number of cars, strictly for freight, ever passed over this road.[56]

One more eminent visitor remained to be honored at Mansfield station. On the evening of

Tuesday, 12 October 1880, a train carrying General Ulysses S. Grant, then three years out of the

White House, paused at Mansfield for a few minutes, probably while the engine took water. With

state and national elections upcoming (James A. Garfield versus former Civil War general Winfield

Scott Hancock for president), Grant was on his way to pay a political call on Bay State governor J.

D. Long and other bigwigs at the State House in Boston. A relatively few localites gathered at the

depot mostly out of curiosity to see the ex-chief executive and Civil War hero, though in Providence

that same day thousands had come out to greet him. Four days after Grant's brief visit the “Tin Kettle” train from Providence arrived at Mansfield depot at 7:10 p. m. Saturday bringing the

Attleboro Battalion under the command of Major Horton to participate in a grand political

torchlight parade in support of Garfield. Following the parade and speeches, "a collation was served

at the Depot Restaurant, with plenty for all the invited guests."

Ten days later Pliny Cobb's band and two companies of Mansfield men took a special Old

Colony train to Taunton to join in a torchlight parade there; while on 1 November two companies of

the Mansfield Garfield Guards, 90 strong, went by special train to Attleborough, where 1000 men

marched that night in a political procession.[57]

During the first week of November the Old Colony "Section Master" had a large force of laborers

busy putting in a side-track to Lovell's new granary on the Taunton Branch in Mansfield. During

564

that same week, on the 2nd of the month, an accident-prone (see page 500) Mansfield trainman

named Clarence A. White was "considerably injured, though not dangerously" when the forward

part of the Boston and Providence mail train, backing through the Boston yard into the depot,

collided with an outgoing engine. White, who was passing through the mail car, was thrown against

a hot stove, cutting his face and otherwise injuring him. [58]

The spirit of Joe Bftsplk continued to hover above the equally accident-prone “lightning train” as on 17 November the second of a series of minor mishaps (the first being the "burst cylinder head"

back in January) befell the crack flyer The bearings of the eccentric on the left side of the new

locomotive Thomas Motley, pulling the southbound “Shore Line Express” due through Mansfield at 1:30 p. m., overheated, probably from excessive speed or inadequate lubrication or both, and melted

or were cut through. As the engine passed Mansfield depot the eccentric broke, the pieces, "literally

hissing hot," being "thrown violently upon the platform," nearly striking a man and woman who

were awaiting a local train. Engineer Burnham succeeded in "breaking" the train to a stop near the

Central Iron Foundry at Central Street, disconnected the broken side of his engine and then took the

train safely into Providence, arriving only a half hour late.[59]

The Boston and Providence announced that beginning 1 December 1880 passengers who paid

their fares while aboard the trains instead of buying tickets in the stations would be charged an extra

ten cents.[60]

Canton viaduct also underwent some improvement in 1880. The guard-timbers laid on either side

of the top of the bridge in 1860 were replaced by the Edgemoor Iron Company with girders and a

stout ornamental iron fence, both being bolted down to the granite structure.[61]

It was about 1880 that my grandfather, Charles Elwin Chase (1849-1941), a former cavalry

sergeant who spent eight years fighting Indians on the western plains, went to work in Mansfield

yard, probably as a switchman or brakeman, though eventually he would move up the ladder to Old

Colony Railroad yardmaster. His father-in-law, Civil War veteran Hiram Reed, was employed as an

iron molder for the nearby track-side Chilson Furnace Company of Mansfield, which manufactured

passenger car coal-burning stoves[62] that were shipped out by rail.

In 1880 Boston and Providence bought from Rhode Island Locomotive Works three new

locomotives, two of which were assigned numbers that had been used by earlier power, and

scrapped two others. The new engines were:

565

Second 1 (first 1 was Norfolk, built 1845), T. P. I. Goddard, 4-4-0, Rhode Island construction

number 810, cylinders 17 by 24 inches, drivers 60 inches;[63]

Second 12, Benjamin B. Torrey, named for the long-time Boston and Providence treasurer, 4-4-0,

Rhode Island number 866, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60, engine weight 35.5 tons;[64]

47, Thomas Motley, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 910, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 66; this engine

was used, as mentioned above, on the "lightning express."

The engines scrapped were first 12, Attleboro, the second of that name, rebuilt in 1855 from the

1839 Lowell Locks and Canals King Philip; and first 13, Foxboro, originally Ariel, built by Lowell

in 1859.[65]

The first week of 1881 saw a derailment and another train-parting incident on the Old Colony in

Mansfield. The forward wheels of a car near the hind end of the southbound freight leaving town at

5:30 p. m. on 6 January went off the iron near the North Main Street crossing, disjointing the

coupling between it and the preceding car so that the train continued on until it was within a mile

and a half of Norton station before the crew noticed that anything was missing. They then began a

cautious backup move, keeping watch until they came in sight of the rear part of their train. Men

quickly summoned from the yard got the car back on the rails, though it was "considerably broken

up about the woodwork of the truck, which had dragged from near Rogerson Bros. grain house,

where it first left the track. The Fall River train, which should leave here at 6:20 was delayed until 7

o'clock, by the accident."[66]

The winter of 1880-81 was a severe one, with the thermometer early in February registering lows

between zero and seven below, with the result that "Broken rails, broken tires upon engine driving

wheels, broken bars and axles are the order during this extreme winter weather." [67]

The new year also saw the following regulations (among many others) put into effect on the

Boston and Providence:

Rule 82: It is the duty of passenger brakemen to keep the cars neat and clean, to connect the bell

cord through all the cars with the locomotive, to take care of the lamps and stoves, and to do such

other work on the train as the Conductor requires. They must be at their brakes while the train is

moving. When trains break apart great caution must be used in applying the brakes so as to avoid a

collision between the disconnected parts.

566

Rule 105. SWITCHES: Switch frames are painted black on side facing Boston: the side facing

Providence is painted white. A white target facing Boston and a black target facing Providence

indicates that switch is adjusted for the Main Track. The reverse indicates switch is NOT adjusted for

the main track.[68]

On 31 March 1881 the Lowell and Framingham Railroad was chartered to effect a combine of

the (leased) Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford and the Framingham and Lowell

railroads; and on 10 September the Clinton acquired the latter road through purchase at public

auction.[69]

Mansfield residents were reported in April to be waiting for the arrival of a “unique engine” built by Hinkley locomotive works of Boston. This machine, Henry F. Shaw, supposedly “a marvel of state of the art engineering,” was a so-called balanced compound in which steam from two high

pressure cylinders was exhausted into two large low pressure cylinders and used again. The four

cylinders were arranged two on each side, and were said to provide even distribution of power free

from the “clanking and grinding” of two-cylinder engines. The locomotive weighed 74,000 pounds

and would first be placed on the noon express between Boston and Providence.[70] Although

compounds, invented in France, became popular for a time in the United States and elsewhere,

apparently this particular design was unsuccessful, as Boston and Providence did not place the

engine in service and it went instead to the Philadelphia and Sea Isle Railroad.

The Old Colony Railroad in 1881 came up with what appears to have been an innovation in train

signaling. They equipped their locomotives with small red or green "curtains" which the engineer

could draw down over the headlight so as to show a green indication to opposing approaching train

movements when his train was on a siding and the main track was clear, or red when stopped on the

main.[71]

Business continued to be good, as the Mansfield paper reported 165 passengers aboard the 4:35

train from Boston to New Bedford on 2 July, more than one quarter of whom had to stand in the

aisles.[72] Later in the month another local industry took advantage of railroad service, as Comey

and Company began erecting coal sheds near the main track of the Old Colony on Park Street,

Mansfield.[73]

567

Down in Central Falls, the 1871-72 addition to the passenger station still proving inadequate, in

1881 work got under way on a new depot on the same site; this was opened in 1882. A new freight

house was not deemed necessary, however, because the existing station was near Pawtucket and

Valley Falls – in fact, Boston-bound trains after leaving Central Falls actually re-entered the town of

Pawtucket. By now, sidings served more than a half dozen Central Falls businesses.

In 1881 Union Switch and Signal Company electric warning bells were installed at public grade

crossings in Pawtucket either in the watchmen's “flagging” shanties or elsewhere within hearing of pedestrians and the drivers of horse-drawn vehicles.[74]

568

NOTES

1. Mansfield News 24 Jan. 1879.

2. Harlow 1946: 233.

3. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 52 lists 6 Mar. 1883 as the date for the union of Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New

Bedford with Old Colony Railroad Co. under the latter's name.

4. Mansfield News 7 Feb. 1879. The North Attleboro News Leader 15 Mar. 1973: 8 comments that "patrons didn't

know whether it [BCF&NB] was a railroad line or a dictionary."

5. Boston Traveller in Mansfield News 7 Feb. 1879.

6. Mansfield News 14 Feb. 1879.

7. Mansfield News 30 May 1879. Rail mileage Canton Jct to Stoughton 3.94; Stoughton to North Easton 3.88.

Campello is 1.59 mile south of Brockton. Brockton was renamed from North Bridgewater in 1874 and became a city in

1881.

8. Mansfield News 5 Dec. 1879. Lacking a rail connection, a horse-drawn "passenger coach" named The Alert,

driven by Charles Belcher, Jr., was running twice daily over the highway between East Mansfield and the center of the

town; but East Mansfieldians felt they deserved better (Mansfield News 5 Mar. 1880).

9. New Bedford Standard in Mansfield News 26 Aug. 1881.

10. Mansfield News 30 Jan. 1880.

11. Mansfield News 9 May 1879. What the former whistle signal was or what Boston & Providence engineers used

for a grade crossing warning I do not know.

12. Mansfield News 14 Mar., 21 Mar. 1879.

13. Mansfield News 18 Apr. 1879. From Hyde Park to Mansfield was 16-1/2 miles.

14. Mansfield News 25 Apr. 1879.

15 Fisher/Dubiel 1919-1974: 32; NHRAA 1940-52; NHRHTA bull. v. 2, n. 1, Feb. 1971: 6; NHRTIA [sic] bull.,

Aug. 1971, v. 2, n. 3: 7-8.

16. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 31, 45, 49-50; C. R. Damon in ibid.: 81; NRHS 1947: 8; NHRHTA Feb. 1971, v. 2, n. 1:

6 and Aug. 1971, v. 2, n. 3: 7; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 95. Levasseur (1994: 22) states that from 1879 to 1893 the

Taunton Central Station was headquarters of the Old Colony Central Division.

17. Mansfield News 9 May 1879.

18. Mansfield News 6 June 1879.

19. Mansfield News 11 July 1879.

20. Mansfield News 25 July 1879.

21. Mansfield News 15 Aug. 1879.

22. Barrett 1996: 129, 132.

23. Barrett 1996: 132, 134.

569

24. See track plan in Barrett 1996: 144. As late as 17 Sept. 1928, when Back Bay Station needed to be rebuilt

following a fire, the Mass. Department of Public Utilities brought up the matter of Boston & Albany joining with New

Haven in a union station. N. H. was agreeable to the idea but B&A's attitude was described as "hostile" and N. H. built

the new station without them (Barrett 1996: 145). South Station when constructed was purported to be the largest and

was to become the busiest passenger station in the world.

25. Norfolk County Gazette 4 Oct. 1879 in Galvin 1987: 12. Unlike Canton, Mansfield and Forest Hills and also

Attleborough had no other main station within their borders, and thus no reason to add the distinguishing modifier

“Junction” to the depot names. 26. Mansfield News 10 Oct. 1879. This overpass apparently existed as early as 1857 and may have been there since

the railroad was opened. In the 1990s Gilbert St. bridge was out of service for many months while it was again rebuilt.

27. Mansfield News 14 Nov. 1879. The 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue on p. 173 advertises and illustrates the

"Harris 20th century railroad attachment" which, for a cost of $5.45, "transforms the ordinary bicycle into the most

practical and durable device for obtaining high speed on railroad tracks, making a regular railroad velocipede out of an

ordinary bicycle. . . . This attachment has become very popular with railroad and telegraph employes, both male and

female." The equally dangerous genuine velocipede of my father's early days on the railroad, later discontinued because

it derailed so easily, was operated on the "Irish mail" principle by pumping a handle and foot pedals backward and

forward while seated.

28. Mansfield News 21 Nov. 1879.

29. Mansfield News 28 Nov. 1879. The word "narrow" obviously is meant to be followed by "escape" or "call," but

the News proofreader was out to lunch that day.

30. He was still working at Mansfield station on 6 Feb. 1880, because the News of that date notes, "Mr. Fred Paine,

the courteous Depot Master, has hardly been absent from his post of duty a whole day, or evening, for upwards of

twenty years." The reporter overlooked the day Fred had taken off in Oct. 1877 to visit the White Mountains.

31. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 71; 26 Jan. 1951.

32. Foxboro Reporter, Sat., 13 Sept. 1884, v. 1, n. 1, p. 1

33. Mansfield News 19 Dec. 1879.

34. Copeland 1931f, 1936-56: 65; Carnevali 1949.

35. C. Fisher, 1938b: 83; Edson 1981: xvii. See White (1981: 37, 38-9) for photographs of the rebuilt Nason and

much more detailed information about the work. There is some doubt about when Hyde Park, nee Iron Horse, was sold.

It may have been gone from Boston & Providence as early as 1858, but the use of its front truck on Nason suggests that

the former engine was still on the property in 1880.

36. Copeland 1936-56: 67.

37. Mansfield News 23 Jan. 1880.

38. Mansfield News 13 Feb. 1880. Railroads today forbid trainmen their long-time practice of swinging aboard

moving cars (by means of the rear foot on the step and forward hand on the grabiron).

39. Mansfield News 27 Feb. 1880. There is considerable uncertainty about the date the Old Colony freight station at

Mansfield was built, as will be seen. Copeland (ibid.) says 1883-4. But the Mansfield News (5 Nov. 1885) indicates the

structure was not built until 1885. Could preliminary work have been halted, then restarted at a later date?

40. Mansfield News 5 Mar. 1880.

570

41. Swanberg 1988: 36.

42. ”Freight,” in Mansfield News 14 Oct. 1881. 43. So say Humphrey and Clark 1985: 29. But a timetable of 1 Jan. 1876 lists passenger service on that line.

Perhaps in 1880 trains were added to those already in service.

44. NNL Sept. 1976: 6.

45. Four items Mansfield News 26 Mar. 1880. The News of 2 Apr. admits, however, that further investigation had

proved that a large part of the burned woods had been ignited by vandals, not by the engine.

Municipal water and fire hydrants were not installed in Mansfield until about 1887. Whether any of the town's

volunteer fire fighters were there is not stated. Evidently they were not very effective; the News editor remarked

sarcastically that the best thing he could say about them was that when they finished with a fire they left nothing but

ruins. They may have lacked equipment; the editor also wrote wistfully that he wished a new hook-and-ladder fire

apparatus he saw aboard a passing flatcar was destined for Mansfield.

46. Mansfield News 28 May 1880.

47. Norfolk County Gazette 22 May 1880; Galvin 1987: 13, q. v. for c1920 photo. Galvin (op. cit.: 9) also shows a

rare photo from the R&LHS collection of the first Stoughton depot which was built by the Stoughton Branch Railroad

and used by Boston & Providence until 1888. It stood fairly close to a church, and consisted of a large wooden gable-

roofed shed with a belfry on the roof ridge and a center doorway for passenger trains; another doorway to one side of

this holds a boxcar.

48. C. Brown 1990: 38-9, q v. for a photo of Henry M. Whitney. Besides having done well as a Boston banker and

president of the Metropolitan Steamship Co. (Bayles 1891; Rowsome and Maguire 1956: 88), Whitney had been a street

railway magnate in that city, where he pioneered in replacing horsecars with electric traction, and later went on to

operate the large Portsmouth, R. I., anthracite coal mine. He collaborated with Canadian Pacific Ry president Sir

William Van Horne in developing mining and metallurgical companies in Cape Breton, and in 1893 merged all the

important Nova Scotia coal mines into the Dominion Coal Co. He also was a member of the Brookline (Mass.) Parks

Commission, and his West End Land Co. and West End Street Railway, of which he was president, did much in 1887

and afterward to transform that suburban town for the better. In 1899 he was one of a powerful New York syndicate

whose members controlled the streetcars in Philadelphia, Chicago and other U. S. cities as well as the Metropolitan

Street Railway Co., which held a monopoly on the streetcar business in New York city. The syndicate in that same year

formed the American Indies Co., which wrested control of the Havana, Cuba, streetcar company away from competitors

(Zanetti and Garcia 1987-98: 213, 215, 441). C. Brown (1990: 38) notes that unlike many railroad moguls, Henry M.

Whitney was a man of class, integrity and good taste. It is easy to confuse him with the older Henry Austin Whitney

(1826-1889), who served as a director and then interim president of Boston & Providence, and as I admitted before I am

not confident that in every instance where I have mentioned one or the other I have identified the two men correctly.

49. Lee 1987: 8.

50. C. Brown 1990: 38-9.

51. Mansfield News 18 June 1880. Forerunners in a sense of the crowded Narragansett racetrack special trains of

60 years later.

52. Mansfield News 20 Aug. 1880. This was a not uncommon kind of accident in those days.

53. Mansfield News 30 Aug. 1880.

571

54. Mansfield News 17 Sep. 1880. We see no evidence of the oft-rumored track pans for taking water on the fly.

Whereas in some parts of the country the water used for locomotives contains impurities that cause dangerous foaming

in the boiler or scale to form on boiler tubes, Mansfield was always fortunate in the purity of its water.

55. Mansfield News 24 Sep. 1880.

56. Mansfield News 24 Sep. 1880, reprinted in News 30 Sep. 2005. The News editor/reporter‟s rose-colored glasses

evidently obscured his view of a 121-car Boston & Providence freight hauled by the engine Roger Williams, conductor

Murphy, engineer Frost, from Mansfield to India Point 15 Apr. 1873, reported three days after that date in his own

paper, or the gargantuan 154-car B&P train hauled through Mansfield by one engine in late Jan. 1877.

57. Mansfield News 15 Oct. 1880; Copeland 1932a, 1932b, 1936-56: 274; 26 Jan. 1951; News 18 Feb. 2000

(reprint). Grant had tried in June to secure the Republican nomination for president, but prejudice against his serving a

third term gave the vote to Garfield, who thanks in part to countrywide efforts like the above was elected chief

executive on 4 Nov. 1880.

58. Mansfield News 5 Nov. 1880.

59. Mansfield News 19 Nov. 1880.

60. Mansfield News 26 Nov. 1880.

61. R. Rogers in Galvin 1987: 10; c1885 photo from Canton Hist. Soc. in ibid.: 16.

62. Forney 1879-1974: 156, 409 fig. 546. In ibid.: 40 a definition is given: "Chilson's stove. A stove for heating

cars, which is named after the manufacturer." As 19th century folks knew, a heater warmed "by convection, that is, by

carrying hot water, steam, or warmed air" through the space to be heated; a stove heated by direct radiation (Ibid.: 84).

63. Goddard may have been acquired in 1881.

64. This engine would be involved in the Bussey Bridge disaster in 1887. See Sweeney 2006: 64 for the only

known photo of this engine (from J. W. Swanberg collection).

65. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 82, 83; Edson 1981: xvii. First 12 may have been scrapped in 1880.

66. Mansfield News 7 Jan. 1881.

67. Mansfield News 4 Feb. 1881.

68. NNL May 1976: 8, excerpted from Boston & Providence rulebook. It strikes me that rule 105 is unnecessarily

confusing and inconsistent.

69. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 49, 50.

70. Mansfield News 2 Apr. 1881.

71. Mansfield News 27 May 1881.

72. Mansfield News 8 July 1881. Having ridden trains carrying up to 700 passengers, I am unimpressed by 165

riders, but perhaps for the time it was a profitable load. New Bedford and Fall River residents failed over the long run to

use their Boston train service and therefore lost it: NYNH&H timetables show that passenger trains to and from New

Bedford and Fall River via the Taunton Branch diminished from 91 and 46 weekly in 1937 (26 of the latter connected to

Newport), 80 and 40 in 1940, and 65 and 30 in 1946. The last passenger trains to the two cities ran 5 Sep. 1958. I rode

one of the last runs of the “New Bedford Express,” and my coach contained six riders. 73. Mansfield News 29 July 1881

74. Ozog 1984: 10, 11. Warning bells operated by track circuits were used in crossing tenders' shanties until that

kind of crossing protection was abolished.

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34 – The Providence problem revisited

These small-town stations having been taken care of, attention turned again to a proposed new

depot for the city of Providence. Much controversy ensued, and a number of widely varying

solutions to the station problem had been brought forward, which could be grouped under four basic

questions:

a) Present site or new site?

b) Stub-end (head-house) or through station?

c) Surface or elevated station?

d) Cove preserved or Cove filled for railroad use?

The early plans favored a stub-end terminal, with all tracks ending in the depot, which for

Providence, being a through station on the Boston to Stonington or the Shore Line to New York,

made no sense. Many of the city's most able and public-spirited business people expended greater

effort than it deserved to bring this impractical idea to fruition.

Many seemed to feel that Providence, being now a major terminus of six independent railroad

companies besides enjoying a strategic location at the head of Narragansett Bay which made it a

port for coastal and foreign ships, stood in a fair way to become, after Boston, the second

commercial city of New England. But she could not accomplish that goal unless a first class union

railroad terminal was built. And a suitably large terminal could not be built while the circular little

body of tidal water known as the Cove remained in the way.

Evidently the railroad managements viewed this problem in the same light, because in August

1881 the Boston and Providence and the Providence and Worcester petitioned the city to grant or

sell them some filled and unfilled city-owned lands around the Cove. In response, Mayor Hayward

appointed what became called the Goddard Commission, of which the members, all well-known

Providence businessmen, were Colonel William Goddard, S. S. Sprague, Robert Knight, H. E.

Wellman and Charles W. Lippitt.

The city council instructed the commission to appraise and fix the price of the Cove lands and

arrange the sale of any part or all of them to the railroads wanting to buy them, and to report back to

the council on or before 1 April 1882 on any plans the railroads might have to increase the size of

their freight and passenger terminal facilities and whether these plans would necessitate building

573

new streets.[1]

The first of the railroad plans for resolving the terminal dilemma was made public 6 December

1881 and was an expensive one, with raised trackage, roofed cuts and tunnels. William A. Harris

proposed an elevated headhouse-type of passenger depot with Dorrance Street running beneath the

tracks to the foot of Smith Hill, where the state capitol stood and still stands. This station would be

built on the site of the existing one, and the tracks approaching it would pass through a bore under

the hill. Another tunnel would run between Dean and Dale Streets. To allow the space above the

tracks to be reclaimed, a covered cut one half-mile-long, like the present Park Avenue approach to

Grand Central Terminal in New York City, would be constructed from Smith Street to Charles

Street. The freight yards would be situated east of the station.[2] Harris's plan was not an optimum

solution, however, and a resolution to the Providence terminal problem would have to wait until a

better and less costly proposal came along.

* * *

In August 1881 the new editor of the Mansfield News, William "Printer" White, who had taken

office the previous May, began running a welcome weekly column by a well-informed but

anonymous writer who styled himself simply "Freight." I say "welcome," because "Freight"

specialized in railroad news, both local and national, even venturing now and then as far afield as

ferrocarril events in Mexico. In common with most news people in those times but unlike today‟s TV, radio and newspaper reporters, “Freight,” when writing of railroads, understood what he was writing about and used correct terminology. Editor White headed the column, which continued in

the News until March 1882, "Railroad Interests." The initial effort, appearing in the paper of Friday,

19 August 1881, is typical, and includes the following item about the well-known "lightning train,"

which evidently continued to be run too fast for the well being of its own machinery:

The shore line engine, Robeson, broke an eccentric strap and kicked up a muss near West Mansfield

depot Monday. She was able, however, to take her train through to Providence some 30 or 40 minutes

late. This engine is the new hard coal burner which has been running regularly on the shore line of late,

and we understand giving excellent satisfaction.

The Providence Journal picks up this incident with a slight and incorrect variation:

The shore line train from Boston, due in this city at 2 o'clock P. M., Monday, was delayed at Mansfield

574

thirty-five minutes by the breaking of one of the connecting rods of the locomotive.[3]

What is significant is that, without "Freight," we might not know that Boston and Providence was

using anthracite coal in a locomotive apparently for the first time since the ill-fated efforts of the

1830s. Too bad we lack a photo of this unique engine so as to see for ourselves if it sported a wide

firebox in the style used later by Central of Jersey, Reading, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Hudson

and other anthracite-burning roads.

The "lightning" engine was not long on the cripple list, because "Freight" reports a week later

that Robeson was back on duty, and adds, "Travel behind this engine, where one can have a car

window open without being smothered with smoke and cinders, is a positive luxury." It was learned

that "Two and a half tons of coal are required to build a fire in the hard coal burner, 'Robeson' . . .

."[4]

Thanks to "Freight" we are given a rundown of Boston and Providence motive power and rolling

stock at the time, which amounted to 48 locomotives, 100 passenger cars, 18 mail, baggage and

express cars and 432 freight cars. The road's average number of employes during 1881 was 728.[5]

"Freight" also lets us know that Fred Paine was not the only faithful long-time employe working

at Mansfield station:

Mr. John A. Brutcher employed by the B. & P. RR., at the Mansfield depot, shows a record which for

long and faithful service few can excel or equal. For over 20 years his hour for going on duty has been

4.30 A. M., Sundays included, and yet he has never been called or had an alarm clock to wake him.[6]

Boston and Providence about this time began tightening the screws on its train and engine

employes:

William Bessom of Mansfield supercedes Mr. Charles Ormsbee as conductor of the coal train between

Mansfield and Boston. Ormsbee retires because of defective sight.

This item is followed by:

Rumor says three B. & P. engineers will lose their situations from defective sight.[7]

Old Colony continued to serve as a prodigious western feeder for Boston and Providence and

caterer for the aldermanic appetites of southeast Massachusetts folk, as "Freight" observes in

575

September:

Twelve to fifteen refrigerator cars with fresh beef from Chicago, come into Mansfield daily over the

Old Colony Road. From here it is distributed to Providence, Pawtucket, Taunton, New Bedford, Fall

River, Newport, Brockton, etc.[8]

On 19 September, President James A. Garfield, who had been shot and seriously wounded 2 July

in a Washington railroad station, died. The Boston and Providence and its employes appropriately

observed the tragic occasion, and "Freight" writes:

Engine G. S. Griggs of the B. & P. RR., came out handsomely with mourning, and carrying under her

headlight a fine picture of the dead President. Several other locomotives were more or less trimmed

with mourning Monday; also the cars of Baggage Master Aldrich and Mail Agent Wood.

In keeping with this sad event, Joe Bftsplk's little rain cloud still hovered above the seemingly

star-crossed "lightning train," which suffered yet another meltdown, prompting this note:

As the shore line train from Boston was approaching Mansfield the other day the engineer discovered

that one of the side connections of his engine was melting. He quickly brought the train to a stop when

the disabled engine was replaced by the "Dedham," and the train started again with a delay of just

three minutes. Engineer Beals made the run to Providence in 25 minutes.[9]

A small town shoot-out, sans police or medical intervention, stirred the dust in Mansfield depot

on Wednesday afternoon, 5 October, when,

As the 4:55 p. m. passenger train from Boston to Providence made the customary stop at Mansfield . . .

two Boston youths alighted, and while at the refreshment tables a scuffle ensued between them. One of

them drew a revolver, and not knowing it was loaded, discharged it at his associate, the bullet entering

his thigh. Both took the train for Providence, R. I., without revealing their identity.

Worthy of note in the News two days later was the fact that “A few mornings since, train 301, Conductor R. T. Hillman, Engineer G. C. Geddis, took 76 long cars Mansfield to Taunton.”[10]

And at the Bristol County seat during that October a new railroad-related industry, producing two

products that went together like ham and eggs, was born:

576

The Hopkins & Bryant Switch and Frog Co, has been formed at Taunton, for the purpose of

introducing the Henry N. Hopkins patent switch, and the E. H. Bryant patent frog. Mr. Hopkins,

patentee of the switch, is master blacksmith in the Old Colony shops at Taunton, and Mr. Bryant,

patentee of the frog, is a roadmaster on the same road.

Sharon commuters got some satisfaction in that same month when “a recent petition of the Selectmen of Sharon, founded on the request of many citizens that the train formerly running on the

Providence road from Mansfield to Canton Junction at 6: 45 a. m. and discontinued Oct. 1, might be

restored, the [Massachusetts Railroad] Commissioners earnestly recommend the railroad company

to promptly restore and maintain the abandoned train.”[11]

Both the freight and passenger business appeared to be thriving. It was reported on Friday, 28

October, that at Mansfield depot “Excursion tickets to the number of 268 were sold on the B. & P. R. R. Friday and Saturday of last week,”[12] and that increasing business on Old Colony‟s Northern Division caused two trains to be added to the schedule, one between Mansfield and

Fitchburg, the other Mansfield and Concord Junction. To expedite this traffic, “An atmospheric signal operated from the freight yard has been erected near Spring Street [in Foxvale] on the Old

Colony.”

But accidents continued to happen. Two days before, the train from Boston due to reach

Mansfield at 4:25 p. m., with the redoubtable Henry Paine at the throttle, plowed at “a high rate of

speed” into a wandering herd of cattle near Readville, killing one cow outright and injuring several others. [13] A party of visiting Frenchmen was honored by Boston and Providence superintendent

Folsom when he had the name on the cab of the engine A. A. Folsom, named originally in his honor

and which had been assigned to haul their special train, repainted (temporarily, one supposes) to

read Lafayette.[14]

On 19 November 1881, an accident was caused by two stargazing employes:

A misplaced switch caused the 11:30 a. m. special from Foxboro, to collide with a freight engine,

which was standing on a side track in the yard at Mansfield, last Saturday. No person was injured,

although the passengers, ten or twelve in number, were considerably frightened. The damage was

confined to the locomotives, and was comparatively light.

The engineman of the special and the switchman were handed the blame, and their tenure with

the railroad was at first reported to be “on the ragged edge,” but by 16 December both were

577

reinstated.[15] Freight traffic on the Old Colony through the Boston and Providence junction at

Mansfield as the year 1881 neared its close was reported to be “never heavier,” especially in the “immense quantities of coal and cotton; and by year‟s end a new freight train was put on in service between Dedham and Boston, “a fact which would seem to indicate [stated the alert Mansfield reporter] that the N. Y. & N. E. with its new branch had not secured all of the Dedham

business.”[16]

Mansfield roundhouse was made ready for the coming winter by getting a new tin roof in

December 1883.[17]

At the annual Boston and Providence stockholders‟ meeting held in Boston‟s Park Square Station, at which 7144 shares were represented, chaired by the railroad‟s president Henry M. Whitney, directors were elected for1882. Most, in fact, were re-elected. Chosen were Whitney himself,

Thomas P. I. Goddard, J. Huntington Wolcott, William R. Robeson, Francis M. Wild, Joseph W.

Balch and Royal C. Taft, all of whom were members of the previous board. At a meeting of these

directors held immediately afterward, Whitney was re-elected president, Benjamin B. Torrey

treasurer, Winslow Warren clerk and A. A. Folsom superintendent.[18]

In 1881 Boston and Providence acquired six new locomotives, four of which were given numbers

previously used by retired engines; and scrapped three machines. The new acquisitions, all erected

by Rhode Island Locomotive Works, were:

Second 2, William R. Robeson, 4-4-0, named for a Boston and Providence director, Rhode Island

construction number 962, cylinders 18 by 22 inches, drivers 66 inches, already described as the

anthracite-burner assigned to the "lightning train;"

Second 13, Joseph W. Balch, named after another director, a 4-4-0, number 1008, cylinders 17 by

24, drivers 66;

Second 14, James Daily, so called in honor of the railroad's general ticket agent, 4-4-0, number

1079, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60;

Second 20, Royal C. Taft, one more director, 4-4-0, number 1009, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60.

48, D. L. Davis, 4-4-0, number 1112, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60;

49, Henry A. Chace, 4-4-0, number 1113, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 66.[19]

Early in January 1882 “Freight” noted the following:

The Boston & Providence R. R. has received two more new engines from the Rhode Island Shops.

Their names are “Henry A. Chace” and “D. L. Davis.” Mr. Chace is agent of the company at Providence. Mr. Davis is a Roadmaster on the Boston end of the line, and has been in the employ of

the company about forty-five years.[20]

578

The probability is that these two engines were delivered late in 1881.

Engines first 2, Massachusetts (Griggs 1846), first 14, Sharon (Lowell 1859) and first 20, G. W.

Whistler (Taunton 1864) were “broken up” in 1881.[21]

In mid-January 1882 “Freight” reported that Rhode Island Locomotive Works was to build three more engines for Boston and Providence, including a so-called “double-ender” with a pilot and headlight on each end for shuttle service on the short Attleborough Branch.[22]

"But few roads in the country [noted a competent observer] are equipped equal to the B. & P."

[23]

Notwithstanding, mishaps due to carelessness still occurred, and on 11 January 1882,

a misplaced switch let an engine on the ground at the crossing of the B. & P. and Old Colony roads at

Mansfield. Traffic on the Old Colony and on the outward track of the B. & P. was suspended for half

an hour.

This was followed one day later by a slip-up at Boston engine terminal which demonstrated the

frequent complaint of locomotive firemen that their engineers failed to communicate with them, as

well as showing the urgent need for the blue flags or lights now used to indicate engines that must

not be moved. Moreover, the engine involved was to feature, not many years in the future, in a far

more serious accident:

A curious accident, and one seriously interfering with the working of the road, occurred at the B. & P.

round house in Boston . . . . Engineer Patten after arriving from Providence with the Stonington

freight, put his engine, the “B. B. Torrey” in the house, and after reporting to the proper person that some slight repairs to the reverse connections were needed, left her in charge of the fireman, who

shortly after, having occasion to move the engine, and not knowing that the reverse lever had been

disconnected for the purpose of making the necessary repairs, proceeded as usual, and to his

astonishment brought up in the turn-table pit. Several hours were required to remove the engine, and in

the mean time, as but two or three engines could be taken from the house on account of the obstruction

to the table, everything available outside had to be pressed into service for the movement of

trains.[24]

At about this time it was reported that the work of building a second track between Taunton and

Whittenton was progressing rapidly, with a steam shovel doing the digging.[25]

579

In New England, Mother Nature seldom lets herself be overlooked for long. On the night of

Monday, 23-24 January, though the tracks were clear of snow, high winds and intense cold rendered

the engines unable to pull more than half their normal loads, and some locomotives ran out of water

while struggling with their trains. The steam heat pipes in Mansfield depot froze so that parts of the

rambly building were without heat until nearly the following night. That rugged West Mansfield

Yankee William H. Skinner, operator of the station restaurant, “was not to be driven out, however, but in his overcoat and mittens dished out the beans with undisturbed serenity.”

The superintendents of the several railroads terminating in Boston had wrecks on their minds

when at their mid-January meeting they decreed that every passenger car must carry a crowbar, ax,

hand-saw and pail for use in case of accident.[26]

* * *

Mansfield‟s observant railroad columnist had noted at the end of 1881 that “Providence wants better railroad facilities in that city, and a commission has been appointed to consider the

matter.”[27] As usual, he was right on track. Providence's Goddard Commission, appointed in 1881,

went back to work in 1882, when on 17 April they proposed filling the Cove, with walled channels

reserved for the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers, construction of a through (not stub-end)

passenger station and overgrade bridges to carry the city streets above the tracks. Samuel L. Minot

of the Boston and Providence and John W. Ellis of the Providence and Worcester were given the task

of estimating the cost of this plan and determining its feasibility. They reported in the negative: the

price was too high, particularly the expense of building overhead bridges, and the approach to the

freight yards and freight stations of both railroads was unsatisfactory. As a result a new proposal was

suggested, which tried to solve the difficulties by turning the previous concept inside-out or upside-

down and running the tracks above the streets with an elevated station. The commission found this

idea agreeable and a new plan was drawn up.[28]

Bad ideas also never die, they just keep reappearing, and early in 1882 we see a revival of the old

duplicate railroad notion. The transcontinental builders, being paid by the mile, had spiked down

unneeded rails in the Far West, and on a much smaller scale an unnecessary mile of track had been

laid in 1870 between South Framingham and Framingham. Now the 1873 idea of twin rail lines

connecting Mansfield and Taunton was revived, this time in an even more fantastic sense, because it

580

is evident that the proposal, which despite the lavish use of dollar signs can hardly be taken seriously

– even the newspaper reporter saw through the transparent ploy --, was intended as a swift kick in

the fundament of the existing Old Colony Railroad to inspire it to improve its service between

Mansfield and the Whaling City.

A new [sic] railroad project is being developed in this city [Taunton]. Fourteen persons have placed

opposite their names the figures to represent the sum of $5000, making in all $70,000, and when six

more persons place a like sum opposite their names or $30,000, making a total of $100,000, it is

proposed by the originators to make a start toward building a branch railroad from this city to

Mansfield. A similar movement has been started in New Bedford for better railway accommodation.

They propose to build a line as far as this city, and leave it to our public-spirited citizens to extend it to

Mansfield, where they can connect with the Boston and Providence, and be sure of better facilities than

they have now. They say that the Old Colony people are hurting themselves by making the connections

on that side of the city as bungling as possible. But it seems more than likely that the Old Colony

Railway Company would grant any reasonable request in the matter of accommodations in the future,

and it is probable that the new road will exist only on paper.[29]

In 1882 Union Switch and Signal Company put in service an "electric signal system" to control

train movements through the double-track bottleneck at Pawtucket and Central Falls, between the

north end of Pawtucket freight yard and Boston Switch.[30]

Lending a redolent fragrance to the air and profits to Boston and Providence along their line

between the Rhode Island capital and Pawtucket in 1882 was the area‟s most extensive abattoir. Using these facilities were I. B. Mason & Son, 98 Canal Street, who annually slaughtered 40,000 to

50,000 hogs; Comstock and Co., 101 Canal Street, the same numbers killed; and H. W. Clark, 99

Canal Street, 25,000 sheep per year. Occasionally a few cattle also were done in.[31] Most or all of

these animals presumably were carried to the site in railroad stock cars from the West; the Mansfield

News during a cold spell back on 24 January 1879 sympathized, "The live stock on the freight trains

look uncomfortable in the open cattle cars."

The one o‟clock afternoon train from Boston on 1 February, a half mile south of Hebronville, struck and instantly killed a 13-year-old lad named Crowley who had chosen to walk the track on his

way from work at a mill to his home between Hebronville and Pawtucket. The engineer blew the

whistle several times, “but the boy took no notice of it,” with the sad result that his skull and every

581

bone in his body were badly broken.

Perhaps the plowed track was the easiest place to walk, or young Crowley‟s ears were covered with muffs that shut out the whistle warning, because that morning “the railroads were generally snowed in, but with comparatively little delay to trains. The 7:35 A. M. train from Foxboro to

Boston was delayed by the derailment of a snow plow at Mansfield and [the cars or the passengers?]

had to be taken into Boston by the express train from Taunton. Notwithstanding the great amount of

snow that fell and the wind that drifted it considerably, the trains from Taunton and Providence were

only a few minutes late. The Shore Line and Stonington boat trains were more seriously affected, the

latter not arriving at Mansfield until after ten o‟clock.”[32]

Coupling cars continued to be a hazardous job, and at Canton on 27 February Henry Doty of

Mansfield, while “making the hitch” between cars, had one hand badly crushed. Mansfield‟s Dr. Allen thought at first that Doty‟s fingers could be saved, though he predicted that it would be eight

or ten weeks before he could resume work, but a couple of weeks later a finger had to be amputated,

leaving Doty scarred with the all-too-familiar mark of the railroad brakeman or switchman.[33]

Down in the Bristol County shire town, the Taunton locomotive works was reported in March to

be doing twice as much business as at any time in their history, and profits for the preceding year

were claimed to equal 75 percent of the company‟s capital stock. But a skeptical reporter added,

“The latter statement should be taken with a grain of allowance.”[34]

One locomotive produced by Taunton for Boston and Providence had an uncommon wheel

arrangement. This was number 51, H. F. Barrows, construction number 1193, a “double-ender” of the 0-4-4 type with 15 by 20-inch cylinders and 54-inch drive wheels. This little engine had a

headlight and pilot or cowcatcher on each end, so that it didn‟t have to be turned around in its intended short-run shuttle service on Boston and Providence‟s Attleborough Branch.

Barrows reportedly arrived on the property by 10 March, and on the 16th she proudly made her

maiden trip on the aptly-named “Whiz Bang Line.” A memorable trip it was, bringing back fond recollections of a similar show staged on the very opening day of the Branch a little more than 12

years before. The shiny new locomotive, “by some mismanagement, plunged through the round-

house at North Attleboro, landing in the cemetery.”[35]

As a result of this clumsy behavior, which certainly damaged the pilot and headlight on one end, it

was decided that:

582

The new engine, H. F. Barrows, proves too heavy for the No. Attleboro branch, and consequently has

been withdrawn from the service and stored in the Mansfield round-house. It is said to be the intention

of Supt. Folsom to relay the branch with heavier iron at an early date. In the mean time the “Neponset,”

soon to be replaced by the “Barstow,” will do the North Attleboro work.[36]

That certain cars were running all the way through from Boston to New York was proven in rather

an unpleasant way when on the morning of 11 March, Canton resident Edward King, for 20 years

baggagemaster on the “Shore Line Express,” was found dead in his car, most likely of heart failure, in New York.[37]

If Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company was enjoying good times, so, apparently, was the

Boston and Providence.

It looks as though a new fast freight would be placed on the Shore Line between Boston and New York,

at an early day, leaving either city at about 3 p. m. and making this run in about five hours. Rumor also

puts an additional train [passenger] between Boston and Providence, leaving Providence at 6 a. m. and

returning at 8.30 in the evening.[38]

And indeed, the anonymous railroad columnist “Freight” reported in his final entry in the Mansfield paper that on and after Monday, 3 April, a new passenger train would leave Providence at

6 in the morning, stopping at Pawtucket, Attleborough, Mansfield, Sharon, Canton Junction and

Hyde Park and reaching Boston at 7:40; the evening run would leave Boston at 8:30 and arrive at

Providence at 10.

However, hot-boxes on the engine delayed the “Stonington Boat Train”about 20 minutes between Boston and Mansfield on 22 March.[39]

In spring of 1882, in the tradition of the earlier aborted telephore, a telephone company, (probably

American Bell Telephone Company, formed in 1880, laid down an experimental telephone cable in

West Mansfield. Wanting to prove that sending messages by underground cable was feasible, and

anticipating by a century the laying of fiber-optic lines along railroad rights-of-way, the company

arranged with Boston and Providence to use the space between the two tracks, referred to by railroad

men as "the six-foot," from West Mansfield to Attleborough for the trial. A locomotive was used to

plow a furrow for the wires. One of the two main receiving stations was set up in a small shanty just

583

north of West Mansfield depot, the other in a shanty in Attleborough. But a line was extended nearly

a mile up the tracks to the cabin at Skinner's (School Street) crossing where Frank Skinner was

flagman, while another was run to West Mansfield station. Agent J. Frank Bayley, son of the

previous station agent (he was to work over 50 years for the railroad), permitted the telephone

company men to store supplies in one end of the depot.[40]

Back in 1856, during preparations for laying the first transatlantic cable, Samuel F. B. Morse

demonstrated the feasibility of long-distance telegraphy by stringing ten 200-mile-long wires,

connected in series, between London and Birmingham, England, and successfully sent as many as

200 signals per minute through the 2000-mile aggregate length of the wire. On a vastly smaller scale,

the 1882 technicians used the same principle to prove the practicality of underground circuits in long

distance telephony.

It‟s unfortunate that the Mansfield News columnist who styled himself “Freight” was not still around to tell us in first-hand detail of this pioneer experiment. All that we get from the paper is the

word that:

On Tuesday [25 April] the experimental subterranean telephone line from Attleboro to West Mansfield

was tested. Each wire was first tested separately; then they were joined at the ends, making a line of at

first fifty and then of a hundred miles. The tests were very satisfactory, as conversation was easily

carried on through the hundred miles of wire.[41]

The wires were closed and insulated in a tube of lead. Both ends of the combined circuit were

situated in Attleborough.[42] After the feasibility of sending messages by underground cable had

been proven, the phone line was discontinued, and in July 1884 was dug up and removed. But the

workmen left a roll of wire and some other material with Bayley to use as he pleased. He had

recently married and set up housekeeping nearby, so he strung a telephone line from the depot to his

home and also connected it to his wife's parents' house. Jennie Copeland notes that at the time,

phones were "quite a novelty and the young bride kept her husband and her mother informed of all

the doings in the new home. The Skinner crossing shanty was still connected and occasionally Mrs.

Bayley got the 'wrong party', as when she told Mr. Skinner that she had got the dishes done."[43]

Distorted accounts of this experiment may have spawned the tale (which I have heard from at least

two retired railroad employes, one of whom is a noted rail historian, the other a well informed

former New Haven Railroad locomotive engineer[44]), that troughs once were installed between the

rails (not between the tracks) in Mansfield so that engines might pick up water on the fly, as was the

584

practice on the New York Central and the New York and New England.

* * *

The Old Colony‟s Saturday afternoon train “met with a peculiar accident” on 4 June 1882. As it was passing over a grade crossing between Foxvale and Mansfield a cattle-guard timber reared up

from the ties and pierced the floor of the express car, fortunately without injuring anyone.[45]

In July 1882 at Mansfield, Old Colony Railroad passenger trains departed as follows: North: 6:58,

8:58, 11:10 a. m., 1:40, 5:10 p. m.; also "Mansfield and Foxboro Special Trains" left Mansfield at

8:55 and 11:40 a. m. and 4:15 p. m., and left Foxboro for Mansfield at 7:35, 9:10 and 11:52 a. m. and

1:30 p. m. (this probably the “Scoot”); south: 8:47, 10:12, 11:40 a. m., 2:59, 5:10 and 6:22 p. m. On

Sunday at 6 a. m. a freight with passenger cars attached (mixed train) departed Mansfield for New

Bedford. On the Boston and Providence ten daily trains each way stopped at Mansfield (20 in all).

Thus Mansfield had ten east, ten west, six south and five northbound trains, plus three trains north to

Foxboro and four south.[46]

As an added incentive to visit Mansfield depot, it was reported that the lawns and grounds

surrounding the station, and the station itself, were showing “much care and attention,” and new planking had been laid on the west side of the building.[47]

At Canton Junction the New York-bound “Shore Line Express” leaving Boston at 1 p. m. was involved in a scary near-wreck. Most railroad accidents are caused by human error, and this was no

exception. At noon on Saturday, 22 July 1882, after a Boston-Stoughton train passed Canton

Junction and headed down the branch, the switchman forgot to reline the main track turnout. There

were of course no electric switch circuit controllers, automatic block signals or cab signals in the

engine to warn of such a situation, and when the "lightning train" due to reach the junction at 1:20

p.m. approached the switch its engineman was unable to read the color of the target far enough in

advance to stop the train, which swerved into the Stoughton branch at 45 miles per hour, getting

nearly to Canton station before it could be halted. No one was injured and other than a broken spring

on one of the passenger coaches no damage was done, though eye-witnesses had expected to see the

train leave the rails. After abandoning the damaged coach at the junction, the train proceeded, losing

only a remarkably brief 20 minutes.[48]

Canton train riders were not deterred by this fearsome mishap, and many in that era of the six-day

work-week used the convenient Sunday train to Boston as an escape to the beach or a boat trip down

the harbor. There remained, however, some question even at this late date in the minds of the

descendants of Puritans whether this was a proper way to spend the Sabbath.[49]

Mansfield historian Jennie Copeland, writing in 1931, takes us for a hypothetical ride on a Boston

585

and Providence passenger train of about 1880. She tells us that "Fifty years ago upholstered seats

were by no means the rule and it is fewer years than that since the seats in the smoking cars were of

wood without covering. In winter the cars wre heated [by] an air-tight stove [that] stood at one end

and into this wood was shoved to keep the fire going. With the improvements of the years came coal

and coal stoves. As for light, brackets with kerosene lamps were attached to the sides of the cars. The

low candle power of the smelly wick, diminished by a smoked up chimney, hardly gave good light

for reading the evening paper."

On arriving at Providence or Boston, if travelers had luggage to be transferred across the city they

waited in their seats "for the Armstrong Transfer agent to come through the train and check their

baggage." Passengers who grew thirsty also waited "until the water-boy came through. As sure as

germs he came, bearing a tray with six glasses and a tea-kettle of water. Each passenger in turn had a

drink, or as many drinks as he liked, during the trip. Many a trainman, who has attained fifty years of

honorable service began his railroad career at ten years of age, as a water-boy." Miss Copeland

mentions that a conductor named George Skinner, who after years of safe travel on Boston and

Providence trains was to meet his death in an automobile accident, began around 1880 "as a water

boy on the train from Mansfield."[50]

The Boston and Providence and the Old Colony on Sunday, 14 August 1882, were treated to an

unusual burst of speed of the kind usually read about in dime novels of the time:

A Special train of a locomotive and one car went flying through this town [Mansfield], last Sunday, at a

rate of speed that exceeded wonder. The train was chartered in Boston for a hurried run to Newport, by

a man who wanted to reach a sick relative. The run from Boston to Taunton 39 miles, was made in 34

minutes; Taunton to Dighton, 7 miles, 4 minutes on down grade; Boston to Newport 69-1/2 miles, in 72

minutes. The train was delayed at Tiverton a few minutes by an open draw[bridge].[51]

A week later the Mansfield paper keeps us up to date on local improvements:

The trackmen have been busy this week on the Central Division [Old Colony] tracks within the village

limits, levelling, ballasting, repairing crossings, etc.

Work on the freight yard extension was commenced Monday.[52]

But then tragedy strikes again, in an accident that was no one‟s fault. About 8 a. m. on Tuesday, 30 August, Old Colony switch engine 74 was pulling a string of freight cars southward toward the

freight house on one of the middle tracks of the yard when the engine drive wheels picked a

586

switchpoint and lurched to the right. The tender and cars continued on the correct track. The train

was moving moderately fast, and the tender derailed. The momentum of the cars shoved it off its

trucks and against the wooden cab of the engine, which it demolished. In the cab were four men,

including conductor Daniel Creedon, Jr., and fireman Darmody but not engineer Connor who for

unexplained reasons had “just left the engine.” Creedon either jumped or was thrown to the ground. Darmody reversed the engine and applied the “breaks.” When the cars stopped, Creedon was picked up 25 feet behind the locomotive. A slight contusion on his head was his only visible wound. He was

carried to the freight house, and there died almost immediately. He had worked in the freight yard

for over ten years, and left a wife and four children.[53]

Boston and Providence in September replaced the wooden "Red Bridge" over Bolivar Street on

the branch in Canton, about a mile from the junction, with a 50-foot iron bridge which would permit

the public road to be widened.[54]

On 20 September 1882 the Boston and New York Air Line Railroad between New Haven and

Willimantic, Connecticut, was leased to the up-and-coming New York, New Haven and Hartford

Railroad for 99 years.[55]

A mishap occurred on the Boston and Providence just north of Mansfield in the wee hours of 23

September:

A coal train broke apart half way between this place [Mansfield] and East Foxboro at 2 o‟clock this morning and the cars ran together again causing a wreck that blocked up the tracks till early morning.

Agent Somers and his men were called out and did hard work till day break clearing away.[56]

In October a new stone depot was being erected at Canton Junction, and even the Mansfield

newspaper admitted it to be “one of the finest on the road.”[57] This station is still in the use in the

beginning of the 21st century.

Frank H. Hodges, a 56-year-old lover of trains, met death while walking the Boston and

Providence track between Skinner‟s crossing and West Mansfield on 11 November when he was

struck and instantly killed by the northbound 5 p. m. train. The local paper records that he was of

“unsound mind” and for years had been fascinated by trains, though warned repeatedly of the danger

587

they posed.

Nor were railroad men exempt from harm. “Joseph Trimble, employed in the railway yard, lost two fingers while coupling cars this week.”

And a new Old Colony train was placed in service, the “Granite State Express,” leaving Mansfield at 7:15 p. m. for South Framingham, Concord Junction, and Nashua, Manchester and Concord, New

Hampshire “and the north.”[58]

At the beginning of December, C. A. Jones, for a number of years conductor of the Mansfield-

Taunton-Middleboro freight, was appointed yardmaster at Mansfield freight yard, replacing Edward

Towne, who resigned to take charge of the switcher working the same yard.

Charles A. McAlpine, the Mansfield freight agent, perhaps inspired by the lightning-fast run of the

preceding August, brought some excitement into the lives of the members of the New England

Railroad Club of Boston, before whom he was a guest speaker. He commented that

the practicability of reducing the running time between Boston and New York to three hours was a

matter of cost rather than power.

That locomotives can be built capable of attaining a speed of 80 or 90 miles an hour, with light

loads, is beyond question, and we can conceive of a railway so constructed as to admit of such a speed

with reasonable safety; but that such a road can be built and operated so as to render a fair return upon

the capital invested I believe is not worthy of serious consideration at the present time.[59]

* * *

In 1882 Boston and Providence placed four new locomotives on the rails:

50, Isaiah Hoyt, 4-4-0, Rhode Island Locomotive Works construction no. 1184, cylinders 17 by 24

inches, drivers 60 inches drivers;

51, H. F. Barrows, 0-4-4 double-ender for the Attleborough branch, described above;

52, Abner Alden, 4-4-0, Rhode Island number 1241, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 66;

No number, Utility, 0-4-0, Rhode Island number 1317, cylinders 15 by 24, drivers 48.[60]

During the fiscal year ending 28 February 1883 the town of Mansfield purchased $5.36 worth of

"railroad iron" (probably old iron rails replaced by steel) from the Boston and Providence Rail Road

Corporation for the purpose of repairing the highway bridge at North Factory in the northern part of

East Mansfield. [61]

588

NOTES

1. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 7-8, 12.

2. Providence Journal 11 Nov. 1893 in Dubiel 1974: 12.

3. "Freight," Mansfield News 19 Aug. 1881. There was a major difference between an eccentric strap, which was

part of the internal reverse gear, and a connecting rod or side-rod. I tend to favor the version offered by the more

knowledgeable News columnist. If a connecting rod broke the Robeson would have been more than 30 or 40 minutes

late getting its train to Providence if it got there at all.

4. "Freight," Mansfield News 26 Aug., 30 Sep. 1881. Hard coal, because of its smaller percentage of volatile

combustible matter, can be burned at a higher rate than soft coal without producing black smoke. Among the

disadvantages of smokeless coals is that they are more breakable and therefore apt to produce fine or slack coal which,

when fired, is sucked up the stack by the exhaust and escapes unburned, wasting fuel. The amount of coal needed just to

build up a fire, if the report by "Freight" is accurate, would seem to be another disadvantage.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. R. capitalized on the clean-burning qualities of hard coal when, beginning

in 1904, they popularized an advertising jingle about a spotless fictional female passenger:

Phoebe Snow, dressed in white,

Rides the Road of Anthracite.

Here was a lost opportunity to test West Mansfield anthracite in an engine designed and drafted to burn hard coal. But

the local mines had been closed since the 1850s and would not open again until 1909; while the mine in Portsmouth,

R.I., though producing coal at the time, was inconveniently situated for Boston-Providence use.

5. "Freight," Mansfield News 19 Aug. 1881. My roster of Boston & Providence locomotives (Appendix A) indicates

45 engines known to be in service in Aug. 1881, plus 9 others either bought or retired in 1881 and one more whose

retirement date is unknown.

6. "Freight," Mansfield News 26 Aug. 1881. The “call” would not be by telephone, of course, but by “call boys” hired by the railroad for that purpose.

7. "Freight," Mansfield News 2 Sep., 9 Sep. 1881.

8. "Freight," Mansfield News 23 Sep. 1881.

9. "Freight," Mansfield News 30 Sep. 1881. Average speed Mansfield to Providence, 45.6 miles per hour.

10. Both items by “Freight,” Mansfield News 7 Oct. 1881. 11. Both items by “Freight,” Mansfield News 14 Oct. 1881. 12. Mansfield News 28 Oct. 1881. These excursions became increasingly unpopular with the railroads because of

drunkenness and rowdyism aboard the trains.

13. Atmospheric signal and cattle items by “Freight,” in Mansfield News 28 Oct. 1881. Though familiar with railroad signaling in general, I know nothing of the “atmospheric” technology, but venture a guess that the Foxvale signal was

controlled in some mysterious way by compressed air. Droege (1916: 48) says that hydro-pneumatic interlocking was

introduced on the Philadelphia & Reading in 1884 but by about 1890 was succeeded by electro-pneumatic interlocking;

neither technology seems applicable to the signal in question.

589

14. “Freight,” Mansfield News 4 Nov. 1881. 15. “Freight,” Mansfield News 25 Nov., 16 Dec. 1881. 16. “Freight,” Mansfield News 2 Dec., 30 Dec. 1881. 17. “Freight,” Mansfield News 23 Dec. 1881.

18. “Freight,” Mansfield News 18 Nov. 1881. Boston and Providence‟s apparently all-“WASP” board included some distinguished gentlemen: Thomas Poynton Ives Goddard (1813-1893) a Providence philanthropist and land manipulator,

a member of Weybosset Land Co., a real estate holding company incorporated in 1868, and vice president of Warwick

Land Fund in 1868. J. Huntington Wolcott, who appears to have been a physician, was a member of the U. S. Sanitary

Commission during the Civil War, one of the founders of Boston‟s Children‟s Hospital 1869, and along with Charles Francis Adams a member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association in 1889. Royal Chapin Taft (1823-1912) of

Providence was a mill owner and in 1888-89 governor of Rhode Island.

19. Both C. Fisher and “Freight” agree on the spelling Daily rather than Dailey, which I should think might have

been the case. “Freight” reports in the News of 2 Sep. 1881, “The B. & P. RR. has another new passenger engine, the „Joseph W. Balch‟ . . . .” In the 23 Sep. News he says that Taft is now in service and on 30 Sep. notes that Daily is “the seventh new locomotive placed on the Boston & Providence RR. within a year” and adds, “Two more have been ordered.” In 1846 Davis was superintendent of repairs on B&P‟s 1st Division and Dedham Branch. Chace was no relation to the author, whose grandfather maintained that all who misspelled their name “Chace” were horse-thieves.

20. “Freight,” Mansfield News 6 Jan. 1882. 21. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 82, 84; Edson 1981: xvii. The B&P roster at the end of 1881 appears to have included the

following engines: second No. 1, T. P. I. Goddard; second 2, William R. Robeson; second 3, Thomas B. Wales; 4, Rhode

Island; second 5, third Providence; 6, second Neponset; second 7, Geo. R. Russell; second 8, W. Raymond Lee; 9,

Washington; 10, second New York; second 11, Henry Dalton; second 12, Benjamin B. Torrey; second 13, Joseph W.

Balch; second 14, James Daily; 15, second Roxbury; 16, third Dedham; 17, Daniel Nason; 18. second Boston; 19,

Commonwealth; second 20, Royal C. Taft; 21, A. A. Folsom; 22, Readville; 23, W. H. Morrell; 24, John Barstow; 25,

Gen'l Grant; 26, Judge Warren; 27, David Tyler; 29, Paul Revere; 30, second G. S. Griggs; 31, John Winthrop; 32,

Pegasus; 33, Roger Williams; 34, Pancks; 35, William G.. McNeill; 36, Sam Weller; 37, B. R. Nichols; 38, John Lightner;

39, W. W. Woolsey; 40, Stoughton; 41, Mark Tapley; 42, Micawber; 43, Geo. Richards; 44, Moses B. Ives; 45, Viaduct; 46,

J. H. Wolcott; 47, Thomas Motley; 48, D. L. Davis; 49, Henry A. Chace; 50, Isaiah Hoyt; 51, H. F. Barrows; 52, Abner

Alden; Iron Clad; Useful; and Utility. Missing from number sequence: 28, second Gov. Clifford.. Total engines: 54,

including three unnumbered switchers, seemingly a large fleet of locomotives for a small railroad. Nos. 48 and 49 appear

to have been delivered very late in 1881.

22. “Freight,” Mansfield News 13 Jan. 1882. A double-ender for the Attleborough branch was produced a bit later,

but by Taunton Locomotive Mfg. Co.; it was not particularly successful (see this ms, p. 581).

23. "Freight," Mansfield News 30 Sep. 1881.

24. Both items by “Freight,” Mansfield News 13 Jan. 1882. 25. “Freight,” Mansfield News 20 Jan. 1882. 26. Both items by “Freight,” Mansfield News 27 Jan. 1882. 27. “Freight,” Mansfield News 30 Dec. 1881. 28. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 12-13.

590

29. Providence Press, reported in Boston Journal, copied by “Freight” in Mansfield News 27 Jan. 1882. By mid-

February Old Colony R. R. was still considering suggestions for a duplicate line from Taunton to Mansfield. (Mansfield

News 16 Feb. 2007, “125 years ago.”

30. Ozog 1984: 10. Providence & Worcester already had installed automatic block signals in 1881.

31. King 1882. I am unable to identify Canal St. on modern maps of either Pawtucket or Providence, but suspect it

may have been in the vicinity of St. Francis Cemetery.

32. “Freight,” Mansfield News 3 Feb. 1882. 33. “Freight,” Mansfield News 3 Mar., 17 Mar. 1882. 34. “Freight,” Mansfield News 3 Mar. 1882. 35. “Freight,” Mansfield News, 10 Mar., 17 Mar. 1882. As noted in a previous chapter, some confusion may exist between the 1870 and 1882 smash-ups on the Attleborough Branch. I think the 1882 account cannot be questioned, but

the jury is out on whether the 1870 runaway demolished the roundhouse or a reviewing stand.

36. “Freight,” Mansfield News 24 Mar. 1882. 37. “Freight,” Mansfield News 10 Mar. 1882.

38. “Freight,” Mansfield News 17 Mar. 1882. The five hours time sounds far-fetched, as it exceeded passenger-train

time over the same distance.

39. “Freight,” Mansfield News 24 Mar. 1882. 40. Copeland 1931e, 1936-56: 68-69. American Bell Telephone Co. was formed in 1880 from a merger of National

Bell Telephone Co. with several other companies. National Bell in turn had been formed from a merger of Bell

Telephone Co., founded in 1878 by Alexander Graham Bell‟s father, and New England Telephoneand Telegraph Co. The

country‟s first long distance telephone line went into service in 1881 between Boston and Providence, using iron wire, but had nothing to do with the railroad.

41. Mansfield News, 28 Apr. 1882.

42. Mansfield News 11July 1884.

43. Copeland 1931e, 1936-56: 69.

44. J. W. Swanberg, R. R. Tweedy, pers. comms.

45. Mansfield News 10 June 1882.

46. Mansfield News, date unknown.

47. Mansfield News 22 July 1882.

48. Canton Journal 28 July 1882 in Galvin 1987: 14.

49. Canton Journal 11 Aug. 1882 in Galvin 1987: 14.

50. Copeland 1931d, 1936-56: 66-7. The conversion from wood to anthracite coal in passenger car stoves, if wood

was ever used for car heating, occurred much earlier than Miss Copeland suggests.

51. Mansfield News 19 Aug. 1882. “Freight” would have told us the name of the dashing engineer and the fate of the sick relative. This train followed the Old Colony main line south of Taunton, crossing Taunton River at Somerset. The

distance from Boston to Taunton via Mansfield was about 35 miles; other mileages may have been exaggerated; certainly

the special did not run 7 miles in 4 minutes (105 miles per hour)!

52. Mansfield News 26 Aug. 1882.

53. Mansfield News 2 Sep. 1882. Creedon‟s death and that of Frank Hodges on 11 Nov. are not listed in Mansfield‟s

591

town report for 1882, the only possible reason being that neither man was a resident of Mansfield.

54. Galvin 1987: 14.

55. C. Fisher 1936: 29.

56. Mansfield News 23 Sep. 1882.

57. Mansfield News 14 Oct. 1882.

58. Previous three items Mansfield News 18 Nov. 1882.

59. Previous two items Mansfield News 2 Dec. 1882. Amtrak‟s 150-mile-per-hour Acela trains have yet to attain a 3-

hour schedule or anywhere near it.

60. C. Fisher 1938b: 84, q .v. for a photo of H. F. Barrows on a two-car passenger train. The same photo, larger and

clearer, appears in Swanberg 1988: 85.

61. Mansfield town rep't for yr ending 28 Feb. 1883: 15.

592

35 – Old Colony sweeps up "the Clinton"

At Canton Junction, several boys had been in the habit of jumping onto moving trains near the Stone

Factory and riding the sides or steps of the cars until they hopped off north of the viaduct. To no

avail had depot agent Jacob Silloway, the switchmen and trainmen warned them and driven them

away. The morning of Wednesday, 10 January 1883, while stealing their daily rides, one of these

lads, John Gaffney, lost his hold, fell between two cars and was run over, “crushing his left arm to jelly.” He was rushed aboard the 3 p. m. train to Boston‟s Massachusetts General Hospital, where his arm was amputated at the shoulder.[1]

Early in February 1883 a “new and elegant parlor car named the „Mansfield‟” was put on the Boston and Providence‟s “Shore Line Express.” It was “furnished with chairs and is a handsome affair.”[2] At the same time, as if to remind travelers of days gone by, a stagecoach line still operated

over the roads between Brockton and Mansfield, where it met the trains, fare 50 cents.[3] This

conveyance continued to run until 1 May 1888, when it was discontinued because of a new train

operated by Old Colony from Brockton to Providence via Taunton.[4]

The major regional railroad event of 1883 was the outright acquisition on 6 March of the Boston,

Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad Company, which Old Colony Railroad had leased

early in 1879 and which crossed the Boston and Providence at Mansfield, by the Old Colony under

the latter road's name.[5] Stockholders of both corporations voted on the previous 5 October that the

entire Clinton road would be wholly taken over by Old Colony. This arrangement came as a distinct

relief to the Clinton, because they had been fighting off their creditors by giving them worthless

stock and as a result had got over their heads in a financial mire; and it was only a little less of a

relief for residents and news reporters along the line who had tired of twisting their tongues on the

long-winded name of the former road. The Old Colony company were equally pleased, because they

acquired a valuable northern outlet. They also became the largest railway system in New England,

with a total road mileage (small as it seems today) of 459.

By this takeover, Old Colony picked up a large number of Clinton locomotives, among which

593

were some that had come to the latter from the New Bedford and Taunton and the Taunton Branch,

including, apparently, Saturn and Jupiter. The New Bedford road's T. B. Wales, a Mason engine of

1869, had its name changed to Bay State because Boston and Providence also had a T. B. Wales[6]

and it wouldn't do to have two locomotives of the same name show up at the junction at Mansfield,

even though Wales had served as president of both the Boston and Providence and the Taunton

Branch.

Three years later, on 27 February 1886, Old Colony and the Lowell and Framingham railroads

were consolidated with one another.[7]

Significant improvements at New Bedford in 1883 promised increased freight traffic through

Mansfield. In that year the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company chose a site on the

New Bedford waterfront for its largest operation outside Pennsylvania – a rail freight depot, and

facilities for transferring large tonnages of coal from ships to railroad cars that would find their way

northward to Taunton, Mansfield and points beyond.

Probably as a part of the Old Colony enlargement, a frame addition was built onto the north end of

the 1865 Taunton Central Depot to accommodate enlarged baggage and railway express facilities,

and a covered passenger platform that lasted until the early 1930s was constructed along the tracks

from Oak Street to Wales Street.[8]

The year 1883 was one of petty railroad-related crimes, and sorry deaths and injuries on the

tracks. On the morning of 3 March a milk wagon belonging to Joseph Harrigan of Sharon was

demolished by the 6:30 train from Boston on a private crossing near the Mansfield freight house.

The driver, Harrigan‟s son, was thrown in the air and though he landed on his head was only stunned but not seriously hurt. The poor horse, however, was so badly injured it was shot that afternoon to

put it out of its misery.

Even earlier the same fateful morning the horribly mangled remains of a man at first unidentified

were found on the tracks at Dodgeville between the bridges over Ten Mile River and the canal or

“trench” 100 feet to the south. It was obvious the body had been there some time, because (in the

plain-spoken newspaper language of the time) it was “so strewn by the different trains that it was hard to recognize any resemblance to a man. The remains were carefully shovelled together and

taken to the side of the track . . . .” Examination of the clothing resulted in the victim being identified

as James Drummy, about 45, who worked in a nearby mill. Some local Sherlock Holmes determined

from visible clues that Drummy had been drinking and was sitting on a rail of the northward track,

spitting tobacco juice onto a crosstie, when he was struck by the Boston-bound “Shore Line Express.”[9]

594

Mansfield experienced a crime wave that year, as a ring of youthful thieves stole buggy whips,

and (shades of Iraq!) three menacing Arabs, one armed with a revolver, were arrested on the main

street. But then matters turned more serious. Between 1 and 3 a. m. on 13 March burglars broke into

the depot and cut open and rifled a number of mail bags left by the “Shore Line Express” some hours previously. The bags, intended for New Bedford, Taunton, Attleborough and Lowell, had been

locked in the baggage room. All seemed secure when agent Fred Paine left the premises at midnight.

But when William Skinner, proprietor of the station‟s refreshment rooms, arrived at 3 o‟clock the floor of the baggage room was covered with broken packages and boxes, slit-open letters and checks

in amounts from $10 to $60. Missing from a cash drawer that had been pried open were $70 in

money and C. O. D. bills. To my knowledge, the miscreants were never caught.[10]

Later that month we hear that the Adams Express business was about to be removed from

Mansfield because of lack of patronage. The local editor noted that he would miss the genial face of

agent Charlie Gallup, who had made many friends during his tenure in town.[11]

A week afterward the News reported that “Rogerson Brothers are carting stone for the foundation of a grain house to be erected near the [Old Colony] railroad off Webb Place. The building will be

about 24x48 feet, and one and a half stories high.”[12]

The first day of June, Boston and Providence trains were “delayed somewhat by an accident to a freight train near Hebronville, which tore up one track for a considerable distance. No person was

injured.”[13]

A troubled 45-year-old Mansfield man, Osborne Richards, who a week previously had attempted

suicide by slitting an artery and was still weak from loss of blood, on 12 July made use of a speeding

train with better success. Leaving his work at S. S. Blackinton‟s in Attleborough, he walked down the railroad track toward Dodgeville, and despite shouted warnings from witnesses and repeated

shrill blasts from the engine whistle, he was struck and killed by “the fast Boston and Providence express,” being horribly mutilated. He left a wife in Mansfield and a son in New York. The

newspaper commented, “Little doubt exists but that suicide was premeditated.”[14]

Nor were experienced railroad men immune from horrid deaths. James Murphy, 39, for several

years a Boston and Providence freight conductor, was thrown from a train in East Providence yard

on 11 August when a car jumped the track and was run over and killed. He was replaced by Adelbert

Hewitt who four days later, at Sharon, when stepping from one car of his moving train to another,

fell between them and was decapitated. Hewitt, 35, left a wife and two children.[15]

595

On the positive side, the former Clinton (now Old Colony) main track at Mansfield depot had

been relaid with steel rails, and the main and sidings were being “trued up and put in good running order. Three switches of the Hopkins-Bryant patent, take the place of less worthy ones.” The work was being supervised by E. H. Bryant, inventor of the patent switch frog, and Israel Allen.[16]

Mansfield in 1883 acquired a new and unusual industry that brought business to the railroad. Two

years previously, Colonel (of the Rhode Island Militia) Joseph P. Manton of Providence, a

manufacturer of ships' steam-powered anchor windlasses and steam donkey engines for raising sails,

hoisting cargoes and pumping, had devised what amounted to the ocean-going equivalent of

automobile power steering – a steam apparatus that made it easier to control the ship's wheel.

Wanting to enlarge his operations, he founded the Manton Windlass and Steam Steerer Company

with a capital stock of $125,000 and bought two acres of land near the railroad in Mansfield. Early in

1883, encouraged by a town tax remission in his favor, he erected a building where he began the

manufacture of dock capstans, iron winches and other machinery for merchant, fishing, navy, coast

survey and mail vessels, both sail- and steam-powered; these products were shipped out by rail. His

business, which employed 40 or 50 men and paid high wages of $3 for a ten-hour day, handsomely

survived the depression of the 1880s.[17]

Boston and Providence freight receipts at Mansfield for August 1883 were reported to be

$900.[18] Both freight and passenger business appeared to be flourishing. On Tuesday, 18

September, “Three extra trains taking 39 passenger cars were run on the B. & P . . . to resorts on Providence River. One train of 19 cars was drawn by two engines.”[19] The Old Colony was said to

be handling “a lot of freight” through Mansfield, and “Engineer Blain of the midnight freight to New

Bedford took a load of 189 short cars on a recent trip.”[20]

After a long succession of engines built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works, the Boston and

Providence returned in 1883 to Taunton Locomotive company for their second number 25, to be

named David B. Standish for a late locomotive engineer who had served the road for 37 years and

for a long time ran the regular Stoughton train. The Taunton firm was not distinguished for the

aesthetic lines of their product, but reports were that Standish would be “one of the handsomest engines ever turned out of that place.”[21] This new 4-4-0, which weighed 89,200 pounds, with 16

by 24-inch cylinders and 60-inch driving wheels, was put into service on the Stoughton line on

Wednesday, 21 November 1883, as a tribute to engineer Standish's memory.[22] But six days later it

also made a Boston to Providence run, because around noon on 27 November the new locomotive

paused at Mansfield, where it “was examined with interest by many upon its arrival at the

596

depot.”[23]

Three other machines were built for Boston and Providence in 1883 by Rhode Island:

Second 6, Geo. R. Minot, 4-4-0, construction no. 1355, cylinders 18 by 24 inches, drivers 66

inches;

53, Moses Boyd, 4-4-0, number 1288, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60;

54, Jack Bunsby, the fifth Dickens 0-4-0 switcher, number 1388, cylinders 14 by 24, drivers 48.

[24]

First 22, Readville, Taunton 1866, and first 25, Gen'l Grant, Griggs 1866, were scrapped in 1883,

and first 6, second Neponset, was sold to the Rhode Island Locomotive Works which in turn sold it

to the Northern Adirondack Railroad in New York state in 1885.[25]

The tanks in Mansfield roundhouse which previously received their water supply from the tin roof

of the building, at the end of November were being filled “from the tank-house in the O. C. freight

yard, a pipe having been laid this week for that purpose.”[26]

Saturday morning, 1 December 1883, burglars made another forced entry at Mansfield passenger

station, the modus operandi resembling the abortive attempt at Canton Junction on 7 May 1879. A

railroad employe named Patrick Walsh, perhaps what was termed a “call boy,” went as was his custom to awaken some of the freight trainmen who bunked in a car near A. D. King‟s coal shed on the east side of the tracks just south of Murphy‟s Pond. While on this errand, he heard a report, as of a muffled explosion, which he thought came from the direction of the depot. Running back across

the pond causeway to the station, he found open doors and smoke, and then legged it to the house of

station master Fred Paine on nearby Water Street (Rumford Avenue). Together they hurried to the

spot.

Entry had been made by prying open a window in the front of the building. Inside, a door to the

ladies‟ room was open, as was the door to the ticket office, which was full of smoke. Paine quickly determined that a bungled and amateurish attempt had been made to blow the safe; two holes were

drilled in the safe door. Normally no money was kept there, but on this occasion a cash box

containing $400 was stored inside, and it was thought that word of this had somehow got to the

would-be thieves, who were not identified or apprehended.[27]. It was the last of January before a

new safe was installed in the ticket office.[28] Reasons for the two-month delay are not explained.

At Canton Junction, on the wintry morning of Saturday, 22 December, Canton's superintendent of

597

schools, George Washington Capen, who should have known better, was hiking the track from

Canton to the Junction to take a train, in company with a merchant seaman named Joseph Morton,

when both men were struck and killed by a railroad snowplow near Deane's icehouse.[29]

It was reported just after the turn of 1884 that since a reduction of fares on the Boston and

Providence the passenger business at Mansfield had greatly increased, “even beyond the most sanguine expectations of the management. They are now building a dozen cars to met the wants of

better accommodations.”[30]

* * *

Down in Providence, meanwhile, the Goddard commission, which had been handed the

unenviable task of straightening out the terminal dilemma was still at it. On 27 December 1883 they

submitted their second report to the city. This plan called for an elevated passenger station in about

the same location as before, with built-up track approaches, while the Cove was to be filled and

highways laid across it. The engineers preferred this layout, but opposition, spearheaded by Judge

Charles S. Bradley and machine manufacturer George H. Corliss, was overwhelming. Shouts of

“railroad monopoly” and “Chinese walls” were heard, while the proposed street underpasses that burrowed beneath the raised tracks were called “rat holes.” Lovers of the supposed beauties of the Cove (which a later report described as “an enlarged cesspool” and a “breeding place for noxious insects and unsavory odors”) sprang to its defense. But the Providence city council accepted both the report and the plans.[31]

Early in 1884 the Goddard commission‟s proposal for elevating the railroad in Providence was accepted by the three affected roads: Boston and Providence, New York, Providence and Boston,

and Providence and Worcester.

The city then authorized the commission to negotiate with these railroads for the exchange or sale

of necessary lands. Since legislative authority for taking land was lacking, an appeal was made to the

Rhode Island general assembly, which put through a bill enabling the city and railroad corporations

to enact the plan.[32]

This, however, led only to another flurry of proposals. In January 1884 a new resolution by

Providence city alderman William T. Nicholson called for a rearrangement of the street layout. This

was followed by George H. Corliss's idea of resurrecting something like the old 1873 plan, which

was favored over the commissioners' proposal by those who owned land in the area and at the same

598

time wished to preserve the supposed aesthetic value of the Cove as a public park.

Charles Warren Lippitt popped up in 1884 with a new head-house proposal, which called for a

station facing Exchange Place, west of the old depot, reached by tracks tunneling under Smith's Hill

and Branch Avenue, with a wye track (today's highway builders would call it a "ramp") near the

Cove end of the tunnel. The outbound tracks to New York would bridge the river between the Rhode

Island Locomotive Works and a file factory. Freight yards were to be situated on either side of the

river. The existing tracks through the Smith's Hill cut to the Corliss Engine Works would be

abandoned and turned into a boulevard.[33]

* * *

Mansfield depot agent Fred Paine must have beamed with well-deserved pride when at noon on

Tuesday, 26 February 1884, “a large and handsome engine, painted green, bearing the name „Fred. Paine,‟ passed over the O. C. R. R. from . . . Taunton, for the Boston & Providence R. R. It was a beauty in its workmanship, and majestic in its strength, and our popular station agent will no doubt

feel proud of his name-sake, as the engineer will be on the new engine, if it shall prove as reliable

and faithful as he for whom it is named.”[34] The new engine, numbered 57, was a 4-4-0 built by

Taunton Locomotive Works (construction number 907) with 17 by 24-inch cylinders and 66-inch

drivers; the engine without the tender weighed 87,350 pounds.[35]

I have a photo of the Paine stopped at Mansfield station, with Fred himself posing beside it. The

engine is on the left-hand track facing south at the head of the one o'clock New York express that

regularly stopped for water,[36] and in fact is taking a drink from a standpipe at the south end of the

depot, while the fireman stands atop the tender watching the process. A trainman waits near the rear

tender truck. The Stephenson gear of the locomotive is set in reverse, as if the engineman had hossed

his train slightly backward to spot it under the water plug. The Mansfield House and the Taunton

Branch crossing gates and shanty at Chauncy Street show in the right rear. Paine, as was almost

standard at the time, wears a mustache and full beard and sports a shiny black top hat and suit with

watch chain and fob that befitted his post as depot master.[37]

Fred. Paine was acquired by Old Colony when that railroad took over the Boston and Providence

in 1888 and renumbered 210; and was renumbered again to 810 and then 1875 by the New Haven

Railroad, which scrapped it in January 1906.[38]

The pump house across the tracks from Mansfield depot received a new boiler early in March 1884

which would immediately replace the one previously in use.[39]

It was reported that on 28 March 1884, Friday, the “Shore Line Express” which left Mansfield at 1:30 p. m., lived up to its nickname of “the lightning train” by running 16-1/2 miles from West

599

Mansfield to Providence in 17 minutes, “slacking up twice during the time.”[40]

In May 1884 Boston and Providence 4-4-0 type Boston, number 18, “which Henry Paine has run on the New Bedford Express for a period of seventeen years, has been retired from active service.

This engine has always been a favorite on the road . . . .” The locomotive David Tyler, a larger and

more modern machine, had been substituted for it.[41]

After having served the railroad 21 years, Boston was rebuilt with 15-1/2 by 20-inch cylinders and

66-inch drive wheels and sold. For some reason, perhaps because of the rebuilding, its cab was not

sold with it, and before the engine left the property the old cab was removed (and probably replaced

with a new one). Henry Paine, who lived in Mansfield, asked the railroad's brass collars if they

would give it to him. They consented, and for years it reposed in his dooryard on Chauncy Street.

The sign reading "Boston" remained on only one side of the cab, however; Henry gave the nameplate

on the other side to his fireman and nephew George H. Bragg. Paine, in 1888, when Boston and

Providence was taken over by Old Colony, retired with 37 years of service behind him. He treasured

the cab of old number 18, the faithful Boston, as a favorite place to sit with his right elbow on the

padded window rest while reading the paper and dreaming of by-gone days.[42]

The Mansfield paper corrected itself by noting that Henry N. Paine for 29 years and eight months

had run the New Bedford train daily between Mansfield and Boston, that no one on his train was

ever injured, and Henry was never called into the office for censure or reproof. And more than 30

years before, Fred Paine had fired on the same New Bedford train.[43]

Following the lead of the telephore boosters and the earlier telegraph company, workmen of a new

communications firm, the Baltimore & Ohio Telegraph Company, a rival of Western Union, were

“busily engaged” in May 1884 placing telegraph poles along the railroad through Mansfield. The

line was to run near the Boston and Providence for most if not all of the way between the two capital

cities. It was supposed that the new company would establish an office in Mansfield..[44] Like the

earlier line, the Baltimore company was not part of the railroad operation but merely used its

convenient right-of-way.

On 5 June 1884, a town character well known in Mansfield, Oliver C. “Fiddler Jack” Smith, age 62, was killed near Bailey‟s bakery west of the present School Street while taking a shortcut across the tracks. In stepping out of the way of a northbound wrecking train he failed to see the 5 p. m. train

to Providence coming the other way. The passenger engineer repeatedly blew his whistle, to no

effect. His engine struck and instantly killed Smith, throwing the body a considerable distance. The

600

train stopped and Smith‟s remains were put aboard and taken to West Mansfield, where he had lived with his sister. On that warm day “Fiddler Jack” wore a heavy overcoat reaching nearly to his ankles. When asked about it not long before his death, he replied, “It‟s good enough for a coffin.”[45]

A proud new Boston and Providence locomotive stretched its long legs during the first week of

June. This was second Number 4, Henry A. Whitney, built by the Mason Machine Works

(construction number 714) and named in honor of the former director and interim president of the

road. “Designed to do effective work on fast trains,” it was “one of the best built engines, and is so

constructed as to show great weight and strength in the working parts, combined with elegance and

symmetry of form. The tender is equipped with Colby‟s coupler. The engine has been making a few trial trips between Taunton and Mansfield this week.” With a 54-inch steel boiler and 80-inch

firebox, Whitney had 18 by 24-inch cylinders and drivers given as 66-inch diameter by Charles

Fisher and 69 inches by the News editor. This engine lasted until scrapped in February 1917. Other

than the unsuccessful Boardman-boilered engines of 1855 and Janus of 1871, this was the only

Mason engine operated by Boston and Providence.[46]

The same week in June that he reported on Whitney the Mansfield editor wrote, “The New York freight train from Mansfield, on the Old Colony road, consisted of fifty-seven long loaded cars one

day this week.” And also, “The Old Colony R. R. gives notice that on and after Monday, 23 rd [of

June], the station on the Attleboro Branch now called Lanes will be changed to Chartley.”[47]

In July, “The walls of the [Mansfield] car shed, near the depot crossing of the B. & P. road, are being removed, the better to allow the washing of cars.”[48] This car house stood south of the

present Chauncy Street crossing, west of the main tracks, midway of the fill across Murphy‟s Pond. Wishful hints of the future Old Colony takeover appear in the Mansfield paper, which says

wistfully, “No railroad company in New England extends better facilities to its patrons than does the

Old Colony . . . .”[49]

As an indication of how much the railroads had changed since the days of woodburning

locomotives, on 12 September 1884 the Old Colony had 6,705,177 pounds (3352.5 short tons) of

engine coal piled in its yard at Mansfield[50] where it was loaded into the tenders by means of a

self-propelled steam crane equipped with a clamshell scoop.

As of 13 September, passenger trains left Boston for the Foxborough connection at Mansfield at

8:00 and 10:30 a. m. and 2:00, 4:00 and 5:30 p. m. Trains left Providence to connect with

Foxborough trains at Mansfield at 4:55, 7:00, 9:20 and 10:50 a. m. and 1:55, 2:25 and 4:15 p. m.

Connecting trains left Mansfield for Foxborough at 7:00, 8:50, 11:10 and 11:40 a. m. and 1:40, 3:10,

601

5:03 and 6:20 p. m. (Today, Foxboro has no passenger trains, nor have they for decades.)

The following “Local Railroad Time Table” appears in the Foxborough newspaper on the above date:

TRAINS RUNNING SOUTH

7:30 a.m., Conductor J. Richards, connects closely at Mansfield for Boston and way stations; 8.40 for

Providence and way stations,

9:07, Conductor W. H. Lyman, for Mansfield, Taunton, New Bedford and way stations, and Oak

Bluffs, 9:40, Conductor Fred Paine, for Boston, Canton, Readville, Providence, Attleboro and Pawtucket,

11:19, Conductor J. Spring, for Boston and Providence and way stations, Taunton, New Bedford, Oak

Bluffs and Nantucket, 11:52 a.m., Conductor Fred Paine, for Mansfield only,

2:39 p.m., Conductor S. E. F. Buck, for Mansfield, Boston, Taunton, New Bedford and Oak Bluffs,

Attleboro, Pawtucket and Providence, 4:30, Conductor J. Richards, for Boston, Providence, and way

stations.

6:05, Conductor B. L. Lincoln, Fall River Boat Train; also connects at Mansfield for Attleboro,

Pawtucket and Providence.

6:35, Conductor Fred Paine, for Mansfield and Boston.

TRAINS RUNNING NORTH

7:08 a.m., Conductor B. L. Lincoln, for Fitchburg, Lowell, way stations, and all points North,

11:19, Conductor W. H. Lyman, for Fitchburg, way stations and Northern points,

1:49 p.m., Conductor S. E. F.Buck, for Fitchburg and way stations, and the Hoosac Tunnel Line West,

5:13, Conductor J. Spring, for Fitchburg, Lowell, way stations and Northern points.

Note that Fred Paine was pretty busy acting as a conductor, albeit on short runs, and on the Old

Colony Railroad at that! The same timetable lists mail opening and closing hours at Boston,

Providence, Taunton and other places; and the schedule of the Wrentham stage, which made two

daily round trips between Foxboro station and Wrentham, Massachusetts.[51]

Also in September a train of empty dump cars separated while between East Foxboro and

Mansfield and part was wrecked, fatally injuring two men.[52]

In fall of 1884 Edward P. Paine, the telegraph operator at Mansfield depot since before the Civil

602

War, resigned that position though he continued his duties in the ticket office. His post as telegrapher

was filled by Mrs. Clara Grant beginning 8 October.[53]

During 1884 Boston and Providence acquired five new engines, one of which was given a number

previously used by a retired engine and one that was assigned both a retired number and name; and

they scrapped one engine, and sold another:

Second 4, Henry A. Whitney, 4-4-0, already described;

Second 22, Readville (second of that name), 4-4-0, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 60, built by

Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company (construction number 908) with “Russian lagging” covering its boiler and smokebox;

55, Jos. Grinnell, 0-4-4, cylinders 16 by 20, drivers 54, built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works

(construction number 1450), named for a New Bedford merchant (1788-1885; he had just died) and

U. S. representative who was president of the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad and later a director

and president of Boston and Providence;

56, William Appleton, 4-4-0, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 66, Rhode Island (construction number

1451);

57, Fred. Paine, also previously described.

Besides selling off Hen Paine's beloved 18, Boston, the corporation in 1884 scrapped old number

4, Rhode Island, built by Griggs in 1848 and rebuilt in 1867.[54]

603

NOTES

1. Canton Journal 12 Jan. 1883 in Galvin 1987: 14.

2. Mansfield News 2 Feb. 1883.

3. Mansfield News 2 Mar. 1883.

4. Mansfield News 4 May 1888.

5. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 52.

6. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-1974: 70; see op. cit. p. 70-71 for list of New Bedford & Taunton engines that might have

operated in or out of Mansfield across the Boston & Providence junction.

7. NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 53.

8. Levasseur 1994: 19.

9. Both items Mansfield News 9 Mar. 1883.

10. Mansfield News 16 Mar. 1883.

11. Mansfield News 23 Mar. 1883.

12. Mansfield News 30 Mar. 1883.

13. Mansfield News 1 June 1883.

14. Mansfield News 13 July 1883; Mansfield town rep't for yr ending 29 Feb. 1884: 49.

15. Mansfield News 17 Aug. 1883.

16. Mansfield News 24 Aug. 1883.

17. Copeland 1934a.

18. Mansfield News 7 Sep. 1883.

19. Mansfield News 21 Sep. 1883.

20. Mansfield News 5 Oct. 1883. What is meant by “short cars” is not clear; possibly four-wheel cars. We do know

the relative if not the actual length of the cars: according to the Mansfield News of 6 Aug. 1886, 170 short freight cars

were equal in length to 88 long freight cars.

21. Taunton Gazette, reprinted in Mansfield News 16 Nov. 1883.

22. Canton Journal 23 Nov. 1883 in Galvin 1987: 15, q. v. for photo of Standish taken c1883, from R&LH

collection; Taunton construction number 896. Also C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 82.

23. Mansfield News 30 Nov. 1883.

24. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 84.

604

25. Edson 1981: xvii. At the end of 1883 Boston & Providence appears to have had the following engines on its

roster: second No. 1, T. P. I. Goddard; second 2, William R. Robeson; second 3, Thomas B. Wales; 4, Rhode Island;

second 5, third Providence; second 6, Geo. R. Minot; second 7, Geo. R. Russell; second 8, W. Raymond Lee; 9,

Washington; 10, second New York; second 11, Henry Dalton; second 12, Benjamin B. Torrey; second 13, Joseph W.

Balch; second 14, James Daily; 15, second Roxbury; 16, third Dedham; 17, Daniel Nason; 18, second Boston; second 20,

Royal C. Taft; 21, A. A. Folsom; 23, W. H. Morrell; 24, John Barstow; second 25, David B. Standish; 26, Judge Warren;

27, David Tyler; 29, Paul Revere; 30, second G.. S. Griggs; 31, John Winthrop; 32, Pegasus (ex-Gov. Clifford), 33, Roger

Williams; 34, Pancks; 35, William G. McNeill; 36, Sam Weller; 37, B. R. Nichols; 38, John Lightner; 39, W. W. Woolsey;

40, Stoughton; 41, Mark Tapley; 42, Micawber; 43, Geo. Richards; 44, Moses B. Ives; 45, Viaduct; 46, J. H. Wolcott; 47,

Thomas Motley; 48, D. L. Davis; 49, Henry A. Chace; 50, Isaiah Holt; 51, H. F. Barrows; 52, Abner Alden; 53, Moses

Boyd; 54, Jack Bunsby; Iron Clad; Useful; and Utility. Missing numbers: 19, 22, 28. Total of 54 engines.

26. Mansfield News 30 Nov. 1883.

27. Mansfield News 7 Dec. 1883.

28. Mansfield News 1 Feb. 1884.

29. Canton Journal 28 Dec. 1883 in Galvin 1987: 14.

30. Mansfield News 25 Jan. 1884.

31. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 13; see op. cit. p. 14 for map.

32. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 13.

33. Providence Journal 11 Nov. 1893 in Dubiel 1974: 14-15.

34. Mansfield News 29 Feb., 7 Mar. 1884.

35. C. Fisher 1938b: 84.

36. Copeland 1931c.

37. See McNatt and Todesco 1998: 49 for same photo.

38. C. Fisher 1938b: 84.

39. Both items Mansfield News 7 Mar. 1884.

40. Mansfield News 4 Apr. 1884.

41. Mansfield News 9 May 1884.

42. Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 70; C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii. Miss Copeland says Boston was scrapped

after 18 years of use, which would make the date 1881. C. Fisher lists no scrap date. The News states it was retired in

1884. Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton had hopes of getting the "Boston" sign that in 1931 (says Miss

Copeland) was in possession of Henry Paine's son Henry N., who lived in the house his father built. After Bragg's death

his daughter Mabel Bragg donated the other sign together with some timetables and railroad and family pictures to the

museum of the Harvard School of Business Administration, where they were "much prized."

There is some question about Boston's cab reposing in Henry Paine's yard. The Mansfield News for 17 Mar. 1876

notes that a retired horse car from some unknown street railway had been placed in Henry's garden for use when he "and

his friends take tea in the arbor." Could someone have mistaken this horse car for the cab of Boston? Neither was Boston

“broken up” in 1884, as claimed in one roster of unknown origin that I have seen.

605

Henry Paine's retirement did not end the family railroad dynasty. Although he objected to his son Henry N. going on

the railroad (as my father successfully did me!) in 1916 the younger man hired out in the New Haven R. R.'s interlocking

department and in 1931 was still with the company. His cousin Howard, Edward Paine's son, grew up in the station and

at age 10 was in his father's office selling tickets, and for a few years was telegraph operator in the depot, though he did

not make railroading his career. Nelson Paine's daughter's two sons George H. and Herbert Bragg also went railroading;

George at 18 started firing for his Uncle Henry on the Boston and later became an engineer traveling mostly between

Boston and Providence, altogether spending 43 or 44 years on the rails; and Herbert was a conductor on the same road

(Copeland 1931c, 1936-56: 71).

43. Mansfield News 30 May 1884.

44. Mansfield News 9 May 1884.

45. Mansfield News 6 and 20 June 1884; Mansfield town rep't for 1885: 33 Fiddler Jack was alleged to have been at

one time a competent violinist.

I decided at this point that with a few exceptions, I could no longer record the distressingly dismal succession of

needless trespasser deaths and close calls on the tracks, the wagons and buggies smashed by trains, the horses killed.

Why men and women of that era, unless intent on suicide, were so devoid of common sense around railroads I cannot

conceive. Rudyard Kipling, traveling in the U. S. during the late 19th century, was appalled by the Americans' careless

disregard of the danger of crossing the tracks in front of oncoming trains: "Long use has made the nation familiar and

even contemptuous towards trains to an extent which God never intended" (in D. Brown 1977: 227).

Those who in the year 2001 faulted Amtrak's perceived "public safety be damned" attitude because of a lack of

adequate fencing to protect trespassers against high speed trains should be aware that there is no necessary correlation

between train speeds and deaths on the tracks. In the 24-year period from 1883 to 1907, inclusive (figures for 1903 are

not available), 47 persons – employes and trespassers – were killed or fatally injured on the railroad in Mansfield alone.

This sad situation grew progressively worse: In the 13 years from 1894 through 1907 (again omitting 1903), 34 persons

met their deaths on the tracks in Mansfield; while in the four years 1904-1907, 13 were killed, or an average of 3.25 per

year. And this despite the facts that the population of Mansfield was less than 20% of what it is now (4006 in 1900), the

fastest trains operated at top speeds of 50 miles per hour (35 miles per hour over the junction switches at Mansfield) and

all trains were pulled by noisy, smoke-belching, shrill-whistling steam locomotives that could be heard and (on tangent

track) seen a mile or more away.

46. Mansfield News 13 June 1884; C. Fisher 1938b: 81.

47. Three items Mansfield News 13 June 1884.

48. Mansfield News 11 July 1884.

49. Mansfield News 8 Aug. 1884.

50. Mansfield News, date unknown. At another time Old Colony had 7000 tons of coal piled at Mansfield.

51. Foxboro Reporter, Sat., 13 Sept. 1884, v. 1, n. 1, p. 1.

52. The State Journal, Columbus, Oh., 19 Sep. 1884

53. Mansfield News 3 Oct. 1884.

54. Edson 1981: xvii.

606

36 – The Great Freshet of 1886

Handsome number 22, Readville, was the Boston and Providence engine assigned to the so-called

“All Rail Freight” leaving Boston daily at 6 p. m. Engineman was Gus Spurr of Jamaica Plain,

fireman Charles Damrell of Dover, conductor Samuel B. Flass, head brakeman Barney Logan, rear

brakeman (flagman) Henry Doty. Logan, as front-end brakeman, rode the cab; he sported long

whiskers that would spread out in the breeze when the train was in motion.

Hitched to the rear of the “All Rail” behind the caboose was a baggage car that carried employes and a few paying passengers, as well as oil and supplies; this car always was cut off at Readville.

The “All Rail” would wait there on a siding until overtaken and passed by the second “Stonington Boat Train” which left Boston at 6:30. Then it pulled onto the main track, stopping when it reached Mansfield to pick up or set out cars for the Old Colony and arriving at Providence at 8:30 p.m. After

turning the engine and making up its new train, the “All Rail” departed Providence at 3:45 in the morning and got back to Boston at 5:30. This lonely return run was what I have heard later

railroaders call a “midnight horror.”

Spurr after a while moved up to passenger service and Damrell was “set up” to engineman on another run, after which engineer George Thain of Jamaica Plain and fireman Arthur Rix of Dedham

took over in the cab of the “All Rail.” Unknown to the crew one night, the Hogg bridge in the

outskirts of Boston had been beefed up by installation of upright members. In the dark, Thain was

leaning from the cab of the moving train, perhaps perched on the windowsill to determine by sight or

smell if his tender had a hotbox, when his head struck the upright and he fell out of the engine to the

ground without fireman Rix noticing he was gone. (On many of these locomotives the boiler divided

the so-called deckless cab, so that engineman and fireman were not always mutually in view.)

The train rolled along, now truly a midnight horror, with no one in the right hand seat as far as

Heath Street station, a little over a mile from Jamaica Plain and three miles from Boston, when Rix

discovered he was alone and braked to a stop. The conductor, walking back in the dark with a

lantern, found Thain lying unconscious beside the track. He was taken to Massachusetts General

Hospital, where doctors found he had a fractured skull and trepanned a silver plate into his head.

Thain sued the Boston and Providence in court, but being an employe and not a passenger like the

litigious Lieutenant Russ he was awarded very little.[1]

607

Such sad events, all too common in railroad service, were relieved now and then by humorous

incidents. Around 1885, conductor “Ham” Nason, like Mansfield agent Fred Paine, habitually wore a tall silk hat on the job. He was standing on the platform of a car, watching his train try to plow

through some heavy snow, when an unexpected jolt sent him overboard head-first into a drift,

telescoping his plug hat, which however preserved his head from injury.[2]

Yet another Mansfield iron foundry to be served by the Boston and Providence got its start when

in 1885 the late Simeon Clark‟s shop north of the junction, which had been unsuccessfully operated for several years by George E. Wilbur of Foxvale as a foundry producing gray cast iron, was bought

at an auction sale by Patrick Shields, an Irish foundryman from Easton, Massachusetts. Shields had

been making malleable iron at Belcher‟s furnace in Easton and at first intended to follow the same line in Mansfield, but decided to go along with what was being produced there. He quickly built

himself a reputation making general castings, furnaces, boilers and fireplace goods including many

styles of andirons, and also repairing stoves for large New England jobbers. These products, like

those of the other two Mansfield foundries enjoying the use of railroad sidings, were shipped out by

train, mostly to New York and Philadelphia markets,[3] and of course the railroad brought the

foundry its coal and pig iron. Shields‟ foundry, which became noted for having the largest line of patterns in the East, prospered well into my lifetime and was a familiar sight to Boston-bound

commuters, to the right of the tracks before reaching Lowney‟s chocolate plant. * * *

Mansfield, the important crossing point of the Boston and Providence and the Old Colony

railroads, was the scene throughout 1885 of many improvements. Both roads seemed to vie for the

lead in this race toward modernization, but one must admit that it was the latter company that bore

away the palm. Indeed, the Mansfield News of 30 October marveled, “New improvements on the Old

Colony road in Mansfield can be seen almost every day.”

The first change was of a modest nature. The Mansfield editor in February took notice of a new

“flagging house” or crossing shanty, as it would come to be called, at Central Street crossing of

Boston and Providence, larger than the one previously in use and neatly painted.[4]

Much more important work got under way in April, and this was on the former Foxborough Branch

Rail Road, now a part of Old Colony‟s Northern Division:

Work has been commenced on the double track to be laid between Mansfield and Foxboro. The

workers are now engaged in extending the abutments of the bridge over the Rumford [River], near the

O. C. tank house, and a gravel train will be put on next Monday.[5]

608

Nor was the off-train convenience of passengers neglected. By mid-April, in a forerunner of

Waterman‟s taxi service of the 20th century, livery stable owners L. R. King and Son were the first to “have a carriage at the depot on the arrival of almost every train,” a great convenience to passengers which was “becoming very popular.”[6] Success draws a crowd, and on 28 June “Geo. Winslow and C. W. Belcher began the running of coaches to and from the depot.” A week later, L. R. King and Son put “their comfortable and easy riding hack” in service to carry passengers to and from Mansfield station. The News noted, “If „competition is the life of trade,‟ our livery stable keepers ought to have enough.”[7]

Late in April, Old Colony purchased a tract of land adjacent to the Old Colony‟s Mansfield freight facilities for the purpose of extending the yard, and by 1 May laborers were at work leveling the

ground.[8] . Track-laying began shortly, so that “One would think to see the many tracks which are being laid in the Old Colony yard that this town had suddenly been transformed into a city.

Mansfield has become a great railroad centre, and on this account must spring up rapidly in growth

before long.”[9]

Boston and Providence, keeping up with its neighbor, continued with its own betterments in the

vicinity of Canton Junction. Though iron rails had been replaced with steel six years before on the

main line, iron had remained on the Stoughton branch. In May section men started replacing the old

irons with steel.[10]

Old Colony announced that after 1 May no through tickets to Boston via Mansfield would be sold

at Taunton‟s Central station for the train leaving that city at 7:30 p. m. Passengers desiring to go all the way would have to buy two tickets, one from Taunton to Mansfield, the other Mansfield to

Boston, and would be required to undergo the inconvenience of having their luggage rechecked at

Mansfield.[11] This, it would seem, was a backward step.

During a rainstorm that swept Mansfield freight yard around 6 o‟clock on the evening of 18 May, an Old Colony brakeman, George S. Nay, age 21, of Taunton, was fatally injured when wet footing

caused him to slip and fall from the rear of a slow-moving extra freight that had come up from his

home city. Though no wheels passed over him, he was dragged and rolled about 150 feet.[12]

609

Boston and Providence announced some schedule changes that took effect Tuesday, 16 June:

The New York night mail train will leave Boston at 11 p. m. instead of 10.30. The present 11 p. m.

train for Mansfield will leave at 11.05. The present 6 p. m. from Providence will be discontinued as a

direct through to Boston, but will stop at Mansfield, due there at 7.05 p. m., and leave Mansfield for

Boston at 7.40 p. m., or shortly after the Shore Line has passed.

The present 7.25 p. m. Shore Line train will leave Providence for Boston at 7.00 p. m., due in

Boston at 8.05. No stops will be made between Mansfield and Boston, but passengers desiring to stop

between these points will change cars at Mansfield.

Beautiful Boufe [sic] cars will be placed on this train about July 1, which will make this road for

New York passengers more desirable than ever.[13]

The News editor noted that on the night of Friday 19 June, six of Old Colony‟s largest engines were needed to haul Barnum‟s circus train from Taunton through Mansfield to Fitchburg.[14]

Appropriate to the heavy motive power used was the train‟s most distinguished passenger, Jumbo, purportedly the world‟s largest elephant, on his way to a fatal encounter with a Canadian locomotive

in Ontario.

During the summer of 1885, through New York to Boston “Shore Line” trains began stopping at Canton Junction for the first time. It was about then that a photographer named Holmes set up shop

near Canton station in a railroad car, proving a draw over a period of several weeks for many

families in the town. The Canton depot agent King kept the townspeople up to date by posting

weather indications in the station.[15] It also was around 1885 that “turnbacks,” as commuter trains from Mansfield and Forest Hills to Boston and return became known, began operating, as did trains

on convenient commuting schedules between Taunton and Boston by way of Mansfield.

Long overdue betterment projects continued at Mansfield, as heavy planks were laid between the

two tracks on the Boston and Providence side of the station, making it “much more pleasant to cross for the trains to Boston.”[16] And, “Some of the windows at the depot have been provided with new

blinds, which are painted green – a noticeable improvement. . . . The farther platform on the Boston

& Providence side of the depot has been partially rebuilt, and also some repairs have been made on

the one between the two main tracks.”

610

In addition,

The workmen have finished the work of raising the old track between [Mansfield] and Foxboro, and it

presents a greatly improved appearance, standing as it does on the same level with the old [sic] one. A

fine piece of solid mason work has been built near the O. C. tank house over which is built the

[Rumford River] railroad bridge. The freight yard now presents a busy scene with its long lines of cars,

and the many tracks would do credit to towns several times the size of this.[17]

On 15 July, proving the left-handed running of Old Colony trains,

Passenger trains began the use of both tracks between [Mansfield] and Foxboro Wednesday morning.

Trains going south use the track on the east side of the road, and northern trains run on the west

track.[18]

To help control the increased traffic,

The Old Colony railroad company have placed a fine signal staff at the upper end of the freight yard. It

will be provided with colored lights, and stands 66-1/2 feet above ground.[19]

The predicted gravel train now was being run every day between Mansfield and Walpole in

connection with the double-tracking work, hauled by Old Colony engine 87, engineer Henry

Hartwell, fireman Edward F. Connor.[20]

This was followed two and a half months later by the news that,

A new signal house is being built beyond the water tank and on the other side of the Old Colony track.

A new iron signal has been, within a few days, erected near this place, and a similar one between the

roundhouse and the B. & P. freight-house.[21]

The Canton newspaper reported in August that the Kinsley Iron and Machine Company‟s yard was receiving large amounts of coal, sand and other freight, keeping agent Jacob Silloway (referred to as

“the Captain”) busy. The iron works used annually 7000 to 8000 tons of Cumberland bituminous

coal as well as a good amount of anthracite, the later probably for heating. One of these long Boston

and Providence coal trains broke in two and the detached part ran down across a street crossing,

611

which it blocked for 20 minutes.[22]

The Mansfield paper listed the Boston and Providence as having paid the town $357.67 in annual

property taxes the preceding year of 1884 and Old Colony $242.17.[23]

In October the train fare between Mansfield and New York had been reduced to $2.60. This fare

was expected to last through the winter months.[24]

Old Colony manager J. R. Kendrick informed his subordinates on 14 October that, “From this date that portion of the railroad between Mansfield and Taunton (south of Boston & Providence railroad)

and the Attleboro branch will be included in the Main Line Division.”[25]

A major addition to the railroad junction at Mansfield was the construction of a large two-story

freight house on the west side of the Old Colony yard tracks:

Preparations are now going forward for the new freight depot to be erected by the Old Colony railroad

in this place, which is to be located some three or four hundred feet north of the old building. The

dimensions will be 35x125 feet, and with the platform added, will be about 300 feet in length. The

telegraph and freight office will be located in the second story.”[26]

The new building was a two-story frame affair, by my measurements 33 by 78 feet in plan, giving

a ground floor interior capacity of around 2460 square feet including the office of the freight agent,

with a height of about 36 feet to the roof ridge. On the north end was a roofed open platform 100 feet

long, afterward shortened to only 15 feet. Another roofed loading platform as high as a freight car

floor faced the track on the west side, and on the south end of the building was a 22-foot-wide open

platform with a ramp as well as a flight of steps leading to it. Three eight-foot-wide doors faced the

tracks and three more were located on the east side for teams. The door to the office was on the south

side. A handy outhouse was located north of the building.

Charles A. “Mac” McAlpine was first freight agent at the new facility (later he became passenger station agent at Mansfield, then superintendent of the Old Colony's Northern Division and the New

Haven Railroad's Fitchburg Division). Other later freight agents were Henry C. Hamilton, Elwood

Codding, Paul Cruser, William Merrill and my grandfather Charles Elwin Chase.[27] This large

freight house remained in use until not long before it was demolished in 1989.

Also being built in Mansfield was “Another commodious building for the use of the switch-tender

at the B. & P. and O. C. tracks, near the freight house of the former road.”[28]

For the second time in six months tragedy visited Mansfield yard. Saturday evening, 28

November, Michael Ryan of Taunton, employed on the Old Colony gravel train which was stopped

southbound in Mansfield yard, had gone to the roundhouse on some errand. On his return, crossing

612

the rails to board the work train, he was knocked down and instantly killed by a silently-rolling car

loaded with wood that a switch engine had kicked along the track; his head was horribly mutilated

by being mashed into a switch frog. The warning yells of nearby employes came too late, as the car

was already almost upon him.

By December,

New telegraph poles are being set by the Old Colony Company from Mansfield to Taunton,

preparatory to another line of wires. The new freight depot will soon loom up, the timber having

arrived already framed, and workmen have been engaged this week laying a new track over where it is

to stand.[29]

The News enthuses:

We believe there never was a time in the history of Mansfield when so much freight has passed

through the town as at present.

The freight business on the Old Colony railroad in Mansfield is so great that it was found necessary

this week to put on a night shifter. E. F. Towne has received the appointment of night yardmaster. This

gives employment to several more men. Operations were commenced Tuesday night [8

December].[30]

And then, on 18 December, another tract of land having been bought by the railroad:

A large gang of men are this week preparing the ground for several more railroad tracks beyond the

Old Colony freight depot.

The new freight house which is being built by the Old Colony Company is beginning to assume

proportions, and the work is being hurried to completion as fast as possible.[31]

As of 1 December 1885, Boston and Providence began observing a new State law effective on that

date that required all railroad tickets to be stamped with the date of sale and the name of the station

at which they were sold.[32]

Boston and Providence in 1885 obtained three engines, all given numbers previously used by

older power which by that time was retired; sold one engine and scrapped another. The new

locomotives were:

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Second 18, Arnold Green, 0-4-6T, a tank engine with a pilot on each end, cylinders 17 by 20,

drivers 54, built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works, construction number 1527;

Second 24, C. H. Wheeler, 0-4-6T, cylinders 15 by 20, drivers 54, Rhode Island number 1577;

Second 26, Squantum, 0-4-4, cylinders 16 by 20, drivers 54, built by the Taunton Locomotive

Manufacturing Company (construction number 916) but purchased from Providence, Warren and

Bristol Railroad.

First 24, John Barstow, a Griggs product of 1865, was sold, and first 26, Judge Warren, Griggs

1868, was scrapped.[33]

Second Neponset, engine 6, retired since 1883, was sent to the Rhode Island Locomotive Works

to be rebuilt and afterward sold to Northern Adirondack Railroad in 1885.[34]

Arnold Green and C. H. Wheeler represented a new wheel arrangement for Boston and

Providence, to be duplicated three more times in the next two years.

Mansfield depot saw improvements to start off the year 1886, as the Western Union telegraph

office was moved to the east end of the building, beyond the lunch counter. A pair of glass doors was

removed and replaced with two windows, a change which favorably impressed those using the

station.[35]

By 8 January the Old Colony Northern Division double track had reached a point between South

Walpole and “Walpole Centre,” and a telegraph station had been established there.[36]

* * *

The "Great Flood" or "Great Freshet of 1886" dated from midday on Thursday, 10 February, when

heavy rain began falling on an impervious coat of ice and kept up for 30 to 36 hours, wreaking havoc

throughout Massachusetts and putting a severe crimp in railroad operations. Seven inches of rain

came down, the melting snow adding three inches more, and the ground being frozen, all this water

had no place to go but into the streams, which could not handle it. Towns that never in their worst

nightmares believed that floods were possible found themselves fighting the water. By the 12th and

13th rail communication into Providence from the north was cut when the Boston and Providence

main line tracks washed out at Seven Mile River in Hebronville, the stream being flooded 200 to 300

feet wide. In North Attleborough the partial collapse of the dam at Whiting's Pond allowed a great

mass of debris to be swept down Tenmile River and form a "huge pile of cord wood, lumber and

driftwood of various kinds" against the tracks of the Old Colony's Attleborough Branch Railroad at

Elm Street crossing.

At harmless little Hodges Brook, a half mile north of West Mansfield depot, the rains destroyed

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more than 100 feet of roadbed, letting the rails sag into the stream and dumping earth and ties over

into an adjacent meadow. Glue Factory (now Bleachery) Pond dam in East Foxborough near the

Mansfield line gave way and the rush of water down the Rumford River destroyed the “fine piece of solid mason work” that Old Colony had recently built over the stream near the tank house – “though composed of heavy stones weighing many hundred pounds in weight,” it was partially carried away and would have to be entirely rebuilt.

Near Rider‟s Central Foundry on Central Street in Mansfield a “bad break”occurred in a Boston and Providence culvert, allowing a “great stream of water” to rush over the grade crossing. This severely damaged culvert was not fully repaired until the second week of May.

The tracks through Fowl Meadow north of Canton Junction were submerged for more than a

week. Trains inched carefully through the water, with a watchful crewman riding the pilot to make

sure the rails were still where they were supposed to be. In some spots the flood was high enough to

douse the engines' fires; before entering such deep spots, the engineer would get up what steam he

could so he could run through with a cold firebox, then, when safely across, the fires were relighted.

Hundreds of men were put to work repairing the tracks, and it was Thursday,18 February, before

“trains ran as usual for the first time” between Providence and Boston. By 12 March the Rumford River culvert still had not been fully repaired, and trains were required to “slacken speed” when crossing it. It was observed by the Mansfield editor on 26 February that “A much larger number of freight cars than usual have been hauled through town during the past week or two, owing to the

freight traffic stopping entirely during two or three days of the flood.”[37] Hopes of a swift-coming

spring were dashed when not long after the flood came four days of powerful northwest gales

accompanied by intense cold.

By 12 March 1886, however, workmen were still extending the platform of the new freight

depot.[38]

Old Colony employes presumably were happy with pay raises they received in the first half of

1886. Effective 1 March, locomotive engineers saw their wages go up from $3.35 to $3.66 per day

while firemen were increased from $1.80 to $1.90. And on 1 May, Northern Division trackmen, who

had been sorely stressed during the Great Freshet, saw their wages upped from $1.40 to $1.50 per

day. Old Colony had changed its employe pay schedule from monthly to weekly, and Boston and

Providence followed suit in mid-July, though not all recipients liked the idea.[39] Perhaps this pay

increase came as a result of the company‟s recognition of the trackmen‟s continued good work, because the railroad-smart Mansfield News editor writes shortly before their wage raise:

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If you want to see a good piece of track laying, look at that recently built by R. E. Ladd, trackmaster of

the O. C. RR., and connecting the new freight house of the latter company with the B. & P. road.[40]

In the spring, as we have shown before, the popular fancy turns to thoughts of impractical ideas.

And in spring of 1886 we see the old dream revived for the second time of a railroad from Brockton

connecting with the existing four-way Boston and Providence/Old Colony junction at Mansfield, this

time with an even fancier twist:

The Brockton Gazette has been agitating the projected railroad to open out their enterprising city

toward the west. The business men who have been interviewed there, express themselves as decidedly

in favor of the immediate building of this important connecting link. But the people of Mansfield must

do their part, or there is no prospect of an immediate building of this road. It would seem that the

property holders of this town ought to require no urging to step right into the front of this means of

building up the place. Is there no one to take the initiative of calling a public meeting and awakening a

general interest in the proposed line? Is there no one in Mansfield who has the executive ear of the

Boston and Providence company? For while it would be better to have an independent line, we could

submit to have the old reliable road build it as a branch. Building a railroad is no mere holiday affair,

even if it were only a dozen miles long. This route, according to a careful survey made several years

ago, is quite feasible, requiring a very small amount of grading, although if deflections are made to

actually pass through the village of the Furnace [in Easton] and East Mansfield, a little more expense

will be entailed. Arrangements should at once be made to meet with the representative men of

Brockton and others along the line, and have this project at once put on its feet.

A reporter from East Mansfield picks up the baton by writing:

If the Boston and Providence road decline to assist in building the Brockton branch, the [New York

and] New England road will be invited to start from Franklin, give Wrentham a road, and coming

through South Foxboro, cross the lines here, and so into Brockton.[41]

A few other less resounding echoes reverberated through the spring. The East Mansfield booster,

after seeing some railroad wagons that passed over the road through his village, wrote in May:

We are just waiting for the “curvilinear” railroad, the latest news from which is that it was to swing around from Brockton to Mansfield, W. Bridgewater, Cochesett, So. Easton, Easton Centre, the

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Furnace, Quanticut, E. Mansfield and Mansfield.[42]

Followed by an item from the Brockton newspaper:

Mansfield is at the four corners of the Old Colony and Boston & Providence. When the Brockton road

reaches Mansfield the New England road, if it has a particle of snap, will reach out its hand for

business from Franklin and give Wrentham a railroad.[43]

And then more encouraging news:

The Old Colony directors have formally voted to build the road [from Brockton] to Easton, which

gives direct connections to North Easton and Stoughton. Where are the leading citizens of Mansfield

that they don‟t look out for this end of the route?[44]

But Brockton could not shake hands with Mansfield if Mansfield kept its hands in its pockets, and

discussion of the Brockton-Franklin cross-country line died, though Old Colony‟s Brockton-Easton

track would be completed by the beginning of 1888.[45]

To prevent Mansfieldians from getting swell-headed, changes also continued to be made at

(South) Canton. The old and inconveniently located station there was repaired in spring of 1886. In

May, Deane Coal Company laid a new siding at Canton Junction connecting to a 200-foot-long

trestle from which the contents of coal cars could be dumped into wagons or on the ground for

public delivery. Because of labor troubles in the Pennsylvania mines, Revere Copper Company had

begun buying large tonnages of coal from the Pictou mines in Nova Scotia. But balancing the good

with bad, the Kinsley coal trestle in Canton collapsed, wrecking five cars and the new green-painted

Bolivar Street iron bridge. And as if this were not enough, one Phineas Sheppard passed out in a

drunken stupor on the branch track and was run over and killed by a Stoughton-bound train at

Springdale.[46]

The railroad corporation, recognizing the fact that Canton thanks to its local industries now

furnished more freight traffic than any town between Boston and Providence, added new yard tracks

at Canton Junction to ease the car congestion. It had become clear, however, that the track

arrangement there was inadequate to handle the increase in car and train movements. The local

newspaper reads:

617

Yesterday morning about 11:15 o'clock as the freight train was running on the side track, one of the

cars was derailed, which caused considerable trouble. The passengers on the 11:56 train from

Stoughton, with those who were waiting at the Canton Station, were conveyed to the Junction in a box

car.[47]

Old Colony continued at the cutting edge of technology when its “Dynograph and Track Inspecting car”passed through Mansfield on the afternoon of 27 May under the supervision of chief

engineer Morrill. This car contained “the necessary scientific apparatus for pointing out while at full speed all the uneven places in the track along the line.”[48]

Early in June, both Boston and Providence and Old Colony got in a building-moving mood at

Mansfield. The Old Colony freight depot built several years before was shifted to a new foundation

near the north side of the roundhouse; and Boston and Providence made preparations for moving the

old car house which for many years had stood midway of the fill across Murphy‟s Pond, south of the station, to a new location near North Main Street (Bellew‟s) crossing. The latter job was slow getting

under way, as over a month passed before workmen actually began the tearing-down job, and it was

the end of July before the car shed disappeared. By the first week in August the former car house

side track was being lengthened to connect to the siding that served Manton‟s Steam Windlass Company‟s shop. The new car shed going up near Bellew‟s crossing would accommodate four passenger coaches and would be a little longer and two feet wider than the old one.[49]

Some Mansfield grade crossings also were being improved. Boston and Providence in June laid

iron plates between the tracks to replace the wooden planks at Janes‟s and Green‟s crossings. It was reported that they emitted “a rather hollow sound to any one passing over them.”

A new Boston-New York express train was to begin running over the Boston and Providence on

Sunday, 13 June, making stops at Mansfield in both directions.[50] Freight traffic too continued to

boom, and the News reported that “Heavy freight trains pass through Mansfield on both roads now-

a-days.[51] One rather unusual source of rail freight, though the business had thrived in Mansfield

for many years, was the manufacture of baskets, which seems to have made up in volume what it

lacked in tonnage:

A seemingly larger quantity of baskets than usual have been seen on our streets this week, en route to

the depot. The basket trade of Mansfield and vicinity has grown to be one of unusually large

proportions.[52]

618

In August, changes were made in the Mansfield engine house. An unfinished side track on the

west side of the Old Colony freight office was “made to connect with the turntable track.” Workmen tore down the stonework between the third and fourth windows on the north side of the roundhouse

and installed an arched doorway large enough for a locomotive to pass through. They then dug a pit

on the north side of the building for dumping cinders and refuse from the engines. This material

formerly was dumped inside the house and had to be wheeled outside. In the future the cinders

would be loaded into gondola cars and hauled away. Later, a close-boarded fence eight or ten feet

high was built north of the roundhouse, inside which the refuse material from the engines would be

thrown. Other workmen were remodeling the inside of the oil house, formerly the old freight depot.

The interior of the new freight office had been painted, the floor shone with a new coat of oil, and

freight agent Charles McAlpine was pleased to show off a new ingrain carpet in his private

office.[53]

To complete the sprucing up, Boston and Providence‟s new car house erected near North Main

Street crossing in Mansfield was painted..[54]

All but the hard of hearing in Mansfield were treated on 15 September to a noisy occurrence not

uncommon in the steam era even in my younger days: the whistle valve on a new Boston and

Providence freight engine stuck in the open position, emitting an ear-splitting shriek for three

quarters of an hour.[55]

Canton Junction became an even bigger mark on the railway map in fall of 1886 when in response

to local requests the Boston and Providence agreed to drop two passenger cars from its New York to

Boston train daily at 5:30 p. m. and to pick up two cars on the morning train to New York. In

addition, Patrick O'Riorden opened a 32-acre gravel pit at Springdale, in Canton, on the Stoughton

branch, for the purpose of filling in Pemberton Square in Boston so a new courthouse could be

erected. This meant a parade of gravel trains over the 15 miles of railroad.[56]

For the Boston and Providence, 1886 was a successful year. As of 30 September, earnings for the

previous 12 months were $1,784,805, of which the company netted $399,880. Interest paid came to

$21,716, leaving $378,164 available for dividends. The stockholders realized an annual dividend of

8-1/2 percent. Passengers carried during the year increased one half million over the previous 12-

month period, being 6,119,406.[57]

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But sometimes things didn‟t go right. East Mansfield even well into the 20th century was noted for its Austin poultry farm. The Austins began dealing in birds in 1861 and their business grew until the

operation became known as “The Largest Goose Farm in the World.” Many of the geese and ducks came by freight train, usually through October and November. Often they arrived in poor condition

and had to be fattened on the farm before sale. But the shipment that pulled into Mansfield on 21

October 1886 was a fiasco. It had originated in Stonington, where about 3000 healthy geese and

ducks were packed in crates and loaded into three boxcars. The day was warm, and though the car

doors were left open, by the time the birds reached Mansfield 40 percent – to be exact, 255 geese

and 928 ducks -- had suffocated. The rest were in pitiable condition; onlookers provided water for

them. The Austins refused the shipment, and the upshot was that Boston and Providence had to shell

out $1.50 a pair for the geese and 80 cents a pair for the ducks, for total damages of $560.[58]

The dream of a Brockton-Mansfield railroad refused to turn up its toes. At the Old Colony

Railroad‟s annual meeting the stockholders voted to build the road from Brockton toward Mansfield

as far as Easton, giving Brockton a direct line to Stoughton.[59] The Mansfield editor promptly

began worrying at this bone:

It has always been considered most probable that if the decision was reached the rails would be

continued to Mansfield. But there are those, we understand who are very anxious that it should not be

thus, but that it should run further north and strike Walpole. There are others who believe that this will

be the route laid out, their mind being fully made up on this point. We believe that this corporation

understand what will be for their best interests, and that the branch will without doubt be continued to

Mansfield, which is fast becoming a very important railway center.[60]

But the branch, when built, ended in Easton with a double wye at the Stoughton track.

In December (the Mansfield paper noted), “A handsome new engine passed through here from Taunton on Wednesday [15 December], which was for the Boston & Providence R. R.”[61]

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A photograph of Boston and Providence engine Dedham, number 16, taken at Mansfield in 1886,

shows engineer George French and fireman George Johnston in the cab.[62]

In 1886 Boston and Providence acquired four locomotives, one of which reused a number that

previously was given to an older engine that had been retired. These were:

Second 28, R. H. Stevenson, 4-4-0, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60, weight 83,500 pounds, built by

Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company (construction number 925);

58, Roger Wolcott, 4-4-0, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60, Taunton (construction number 926);

59, W. G. Russell, 0-4-4, cylinders 17 by 20, drivers 54, Rhode Island Locomotive Works

(construction number 1684);

60, Winslow Warren, 4-4-0, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 60, Rhode Island (construction number

1685).[63]

An experiment with burning "petroleum" as locomotive fuel, which had been tried in 1874 (that

test had ended in embarrassing failure when the engine caught fire), was repeated in November 1886

with (it was reported) "good success."[64] The success was not "good" enough, however, to warrant

converting Boston and Providence motive power from coal to oil.

* * *

In Providence, the Goddard commission, having been authorized by the city council and the

Rhode Island general assembly to dicker with the railroads for sale or exchange of land in the

ongoing attempt to ameliorate the city's cramped terminal problems, found their efforts stonewalled

by Providence and Worcester when that road rejected their plan in November 1886. The rejection (so

the line's president wrote Colonel William Goddard) was based on the pretense that it would be

impracticable to build the proposed structures in the Cove because of their difficult foundations,

even though the railroad's own engineers had found the opposite. The Worcester road's preference

seemed to be to lease their property at 10 percent, rather than spending money for improvements. At

this juncture the Goddard commission, which had given the city nearly five years of conscientious

and gratuitous efforts toward resolving the difficult problem, folded its tents and disbanded[65] with

nothing accomplished.

In 1887 the Goddard plan gave way to the Schubarth plan to improve terminal arrangements,

presented by civil engineer N. E. Schubarth to the Providence Public Park Association. In this latest

proposal, the Cove would be partially filled and it and the surrounding lands were to be preserved as

a park, with the existing passenger station converted to a public market. To keep property owners on

621

Smith's Hill happy, that rail entrance would be abandoned and the tracks would be brought into the

city via the Pleasant Valley route, as had been suggested in the old Doyle Plan; or, if that proved

unsuitable, by a tunnel under Smith's Hill. Passenger and freight yards and facilities would be moved

to the west side of the Cove, with a new Union depot on West Exchange Street near Union Street.

This involved costly bridging of the Woonasquatucket River for a distance of nearly a half mile.

The Providence city council and the Rhode Island legislature continued to wrangle over this new

idea month after month without result until September 1887, when the council presented the

following resolution, in one breathless sentence:

Resolved, That his honor the Mayor be and is hereby requested to appoint a commission, to consist of

three impartial and disinterested persons residing without the state, who shall be practical and skilled

railroad engineers, and who shall, as soon as possible, visit the city of Providence and after making a

thorough examination of the present terminal facilities of the railroads entering the Cove lands within

the said city, the topography of the lands contiguous and adjacent thereto, together with the

requirements for an adequate accommodation of the public, report to the city council, for their

approval, the best plan in their judgement for enlarged terminal facilities for said railroads, including

therein locations and general plans for a new passenger station, freight houses, together with

approaches and track connections therewith . . . .

Having been granted this authority, Providence mayor Gilbert F. Robbins then named a

Commission of Expert Engineers consisting of Joseph M. Wilson, Philadelphia, D. J. Whittemore,

Milwaukee, and Alfred P. Boller, New York.[66]

Since 1851 the state of Rhode Island had permitted all railroad lines to be regulated by local

legislation, but in 1887 the newly-formed Interstate Commerce Commission, which operated so

detrimentally to the railroads well into the 20th century, assumed jurisdiction over interstate lines

such as Boston and Providence, Providence and Worcester and New-York, Providence and

Boston.[67]

Misery loves company, so it is said, and Providence did not suffer alone in the inconvenience of

its railroads. In Attleborough, agitation began in 1887 to abolish the grade crossings in that town. A

particular source of concern was Park Street, the great width of which required a double set of

crossing gates controlled manually from a shanty in the middle of the street near the center of the

present double arch. The many trains necessitated frequent lowering of the gates, causing the

622

formation of long lines of horse-drawn vehicles. Worse, when long freight trains blocked the

crossings it was impossible for fire apparatus to get from one side of town to the other, resulting in

the building of fire stations at both Central and Union Streets so that when crossings were obstructed

protection might be given simultaneously to both sides of the tracks.

At the 1887 town meeting the voters authorized a vehicular tunnel to be dug under the tracks at

Park Street, but studies showed that the cost would be prohibitive, and, as was the case in

Providence, it was to be the better part of two decades before the problem was resolved.[68]

* * *

Mansfield gets the last word in 1886 on the day before Christmas when the local newspaper

reports:

A new switch house has been erected this week in front of the Chilson Foundry for the B. & P.

Railroad, and we understand that the old one will be moved back into the wood yard, where it will be

used by those who do the wood sawing.[69]

This new structure had not long to live, however, because in a little more than a year the switches

and signals at the Mansfield junction would be placed under control of a radically new system the

basic principle of which was imported from Britain.

The new year of 1887 began with a couple of locomotive mishaps. The engine of the northbound

Sunday morning express on 16 January suffered a broken truck wheel near West Mansfield. The

crippled engine with its train was brought (whether towed or under its own steam is not clear) to

Mansfield depot and another locomotive under Engineer Dunbar was attached to take the train on to

Boston. Six days later, the evening Stonington boat train from Boston was delayed over one hour at

Sharon by the breaking of an eccentric strap in the link reversing mechanism, a not uncommon

injury in those days. The train limped to Mansfield, where redoubtable Engineer Dunbar again came

to the rescue and with a substitute locomotive took the train to Providence.[70]

The boat train continued to take it on the chin when its opposite number from Stonington, due in

Mansfield at about 5 a. m., on 9 February did not arrive until 11 because of thick fog which had

delayed the night steamboat from New York.[71]

The sturdy Mansfield depot agent Fred Paine had another accident. On Saturday, 19 February, he

was walking backward along the station‟s plank platform and pulling a heavily-loaded two-wheeled

hand truck after him when his heel caught on some obstruction or other and he fell backward, the

truck landing atop him and injuring him quite badly – his fourth on-the-job injury. He was taken to

623

his home on Water Street (now Rumford Avenue), where he remained house-bound for several days.

But you can‟t keep an old railroader down, and by 4 March he was back at his post, though hobbling

part of the time on a pair of crutches.[72]

NOTES

1. NNL May 1976: 8. Knowledgeable railroad historian F. D. Donovan does not know (pers. comm. 2001) the

exact whereabouts of Hogg bridge (or "Hog's bridge," as my reference also has it). Neither do I know the date of this

accident to Engineer Thain.

2. Copeland 1931e, 1936-56: 73. The tumble of top-hatted Ham Nason, son of the Daniel Nason for whom a

locomotive was named, is also mentioned in Copeland 1932b.

3. Copeland 1934d, 1936-56: 159-60. The chronology of ownership is a bit confused. Copeland in 1934d states that

Wilbur's foundry was bought by Clark, not by Shields.

4. Mansfield News 20 Feb. 1885.

5. Mansfield News 10 Apr. 1885.

6. Mansfield News 17 Apr. 1885.

7. Mansfield News 3 July 1885.

8. Mansfield News 1 May 1885.

9. Mansfield News 12 June 1885.

10. Galvin 1987: 14.

11. Taunton Gazette in Mansfield News 17 Apr. 1885.

12. Mansfield News 22 May 1885.

13. Mansfield News 19 June 1885. I have no idea what “beautiful boufe” cars might have been, unless a misspelling of “buffet,” nor does the newspaper offer any further clue. Note the use of periods rather than the now-customary colon

to separate hours and minutes; this practice persisted in railroad timetables well into the 20th century, and is still used in

Britain. The “Shore Line” train‟s 65-minute time from Providence to Boston, with one stop at Mansfield, compares

favorably with schedules of New Haven R. R. express trains over the same distance, with one stop at Back Bay station,

more than 70 years later!

14. Mansfield News 26 June 1885.

15. Galvin 1987: 14.

16. Mansfield News 3 July 1885. Mansfield depot being on the east side of the tracks, the fact that passengers had to

cross one track to reach Boston-bound trains suggests that B&P trains were being operated left-handed. The photo of the

engine Fred Paine stopped at Mansfield seems to indicate the same.

17. Mansfield News 17 July 1885. The first sentence of the last paragraph reads as printed in the News, but

obviously the word “new” was intended in place of one of the two uses of “old;” which one is not clear. The local editor

continues in the traditional mistaken belief that large numbers of stationary freight cars are a sign of bustling prosperity,

though, as will be seen, there is no question that railroad freight business through Mansfield was booming.

624

18. Mansfield News 17 July 1885.

19. Mansfield News 21 Aug. 1885.

20. Mansfield News 11 Sep. 1885.

21. Mansfield News 30 Oct. 1885.

22. Canton Journal 14 Aug. 1885 in Galvin 1987: 14.

23. Mansfield News 25 Sep. 1885.

24. Mansfield News 9 Oct. 1885.

25. Mansfield News 23 Oct. 1885. By “Attleboro branch” was meant the east-west line through the Chartley section

of Norton between Attleboro and Taunton.

26. Mansfield News 6 Nov. 1885. As noted before, confusion exists as to the date of construction of the Old Colony

freight house, which a previous reference (Mansfield News 27 Feb. 1880) indicates was commenced in 1880. Was there

a long delay between beginning and completing the structure? Or were there two freight houses?

27. Copeland 1931c, 1931f.

28. Mansfield News 13 Nov. 1885.

29. Two items Mansfield News 4 Dec. 1885.

30. Mansfield News 11 Dec. 1885. By “shifter” the newspaper meant a switching locomotive. 31. Mansfield News 18 Dec. 1885.

32. Mansfield News 11 Dec. 1885.

33. C. Fisher 1938b: 82; Edson 1981: xvii. See Swanberg 1988: 80 for two photos of Arnold Green, one showing it

as built, the other, years after, far away from home and awaiting a buyer at Southern Iron & Equipment Co., Atlanta, Ga.

At some time between these two portraits, a sand dome and air pump were added and the diamond smokestack replaced

with a straight stack.

34. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 1939: 72. The statement in the first of these sources that no. 6, second Neponset, was sold to

BH&E is in error, and is corrected by Fisher in 1939; it was first Neponset, built in 1837, that was sold to BH&E.

35. Mansfield News 1 and 15 Jan. 1886.

36. Mansfield News 8 Jan. 1886.

37. Mansfield News 19 and 26 Jan., 12 Mar., 14 May 1886; Copeland 1933c; Mansfield News, date unknown;

Panorama of Attleboro: 1939; Lewis 1973: 26; Phillips 1978. McNatt and Todesco 1998: 19 and 63 show photos that

portray the effects of this flood on the town of Mansfield. In A Little Story of the Boston & Providence Railroad

Company, 1917, Charles E. Fisher wrote of the Henry A. Whitney: “In 1886 she was the only engine that could haul the trains through the Neponset Meadows after the freshet on account of her high firebox.”

38. Mansfield News 12 Mar. 1886.

39. Mansfield News 26 Mar., 21 May, 9 July 1886.

40. Mansfield News 9 Apr. 1886. Breathes there a newspaper editor or reporter these days who would recognize and

write of superior track work if he saw it?

41. Mansfield News 16 Apr. 1886. The New York and New England operated the railroad out of Boston via

Dorchester through Readville and Walpole to Franklin. Grading of the proposed cross-country line would not have been

difficult between Brockton and Mansfield, but west of that junction, through Foxboro and Wrentham to Franklin there

were hills a-plenty which would have necessitated some sharp curves and steeper than desirable gradients. Length of this

contemplated line would have been approximately 11miles Brockton to Mansfield,10 miles Mansfield to Franklin,

625

depending on the route taken. A Wrentham railroad would have written finis to the stagecoach serving that community.

42. Mansfield News 21 May 1886.

43. Mansfield News 11 June 1886.

44. Mansfield News 18 June 1886.

45. Mansfield News 25 Nov. 1887.

46. Galvin 1987: 14.

47. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31.

48. Mansfield News 28 May 1886.

49. Mansfield News 4 June, 23 and 30 July, 6 Aug. 1886.

50. Two items Mansfield News 11 June 1886.

51. Mansfield News 16 July 1886.

52. Mansfield News 30 July 1886.

53. Mansfield News 13 Aug., 10 Dec. 1886. This sort of track through a roundhouse wall into the freight yard was

known as a “garden track,” “garden” being a slang term for a freight yard. 54. Mansfield News 1 Oct. 1886.

55. Mansfield News 17 Sep. 1886.

56. Canton Journal 26 Sept. 1886 in Galvin 1987: 16.

57. Mansfield News 19 Nov. 1886.

58. Mansfield News 22, 29 Oct. 1886. The Austin poultry farm was no minor league operation. In one year, 1876,

they handled 25,000 geese, 12,000 ducks, 14,000 turkeys and 100,000 hens and chickens; 65 men were employed in

dressing them for market (Copeland 1936: 164). Well within my memory the birds were brought to Mansfield by train

and marched three miles over the road from the freight yard to the farm, with children and onlookers being pressed into

service to help herd the flocks along and keep stragglers in line. The Austins just once tried this same method of

marching geese through the streets in New York City and had every bird stolen except one being carried by the

herdsman, the policemen assigned to guard the procession being among the worst offenders.

59. Mansfield News 3 Dec. 1886.

60. Mansfield News 10 Dec. 1886.

61. Mansfield News 17 Dec. 1886. This was the R. H. Stevenson.

62. Unknown publication, perhaps NHRHTA, "by courtesy of Mr. Thomas J. Riley, Engineer, Midland Division."

63. C. Fisher 1938b: 82, 84. Swanberg 1988: 86 shows a photo of former Boston & Providence 59 as NH 812. This

engine has two sand domes for bidirectional operation.

64. Dedham Transcript 27 Nov. 1886.

65. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 13-14, q. v. p. 14 for a map showing the Goddard plans.

66. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 15.

67. FWP-RI 1937: 90.

68. Belcher 1938: nos. 1, 15. Various efforts to remove Attleboro's crossings sputtered along without result until

1902, when the Mass. General Court passed a bill permitting elevation of the tracks through the town, with the grade

crossings to be replaced with stone archways or bridges, this work being completed in 1906 at the same time that the old

passenger station was abandoned and the "old tower that had stood 50 feet west of the old brick depot was removed"

(ibid). The archways now and then prove too low for a trailer truck that gets stuck beneath. Mansfield got rid of the last

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of its 12 public grade crossings in the mid-1950s.

69. Mansfield News 24 Dec. 1886.

70. Mansfield News 21, 28 Jan. 1887.

71. Mansfield News 11 Feb. 1887.

72. Mansfield News 25 Feb., 4 Mar. 1887.

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37 – The Bussey Bridge horror

Popular opinion, as reflected in ill-researched history books, newspaper and magazine articles and

television documentaries, would have us believe that 19th century American passenger trains were

rolling death traps. The statistics of the time prove otherwise. Mid-19th century trains, as was shown

by Massachusetts Railroad Commissioner Charles Francis Adams, Jr., were 50 to 60 times safer than

the horse-drawn stagecoaches, and at their worst could not hold a candle to 19th century steamship

fatalities or the 20th and 21st century highway slaughter. In fact, a passenger aboard a U. S. train in

1880 stood only one chance in almost two million of being killed in an accident.[1]

By 1887 the Boston and Providence Rail Road, with its 43-mile main line and short branches to

Dedham, Stoughton, North Attleborough and East Providence, had operated a busy and in some

areas dense passenger and freight traffic for over a half century without having met with anything

faintly resembling a disaster. Indeed, between 1871 and 1879, despite two major rail accidents on

other railroads, one at Revere, the other at Wollaston, the state of Massachusetts had suffered only

one passenger death for each 80 million miles traveled.[2] True, the Boston and Providence had seen

some unfortunate mishaps – the Roxbury head-ender in the early years being the worst, when a

locomotive fireman was killed,[3] plus a number of inevitable derailments, one of which killed two

riders who may have been passengers or hoboes; a separation of the coupling between engine and

tender in which a fireman died; and two locomotive boiler explosions, at least one of which, on the

Canton viaduct, had resulted in the death of the engineman. But nothing approaching the Revere or

Wollaston wrecks, not to mention the Camp Hill disaster of 1856, the "Angola Horror" of 1867 or

the 1876 Ashtabula Bridge disaster,[4] had struck the well-run Boston and Providence. At least not

until the fateful 14th of March 1887.

To set the stage for the tragedy: At Forest Hills, about four miles from Park Square Station,

Boston, the West Roxbury branch diverged from the Providence main line in a right-hand direction.

The first station down the branch was Roslindale, at Milepost 1.28. Less than 500 feet before

reaching Roslindale depot, the curving track spanned unpaved South Street[5] at a sharply oblique or

skewed 21-degree angle on what was known as the Bussey Bridge, from its proximity to Bussey

Farm woods, later the Arnold Arboretum.

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A nickname for the structure was "the Tin Bridge." It had been built in 1850 as a wooden Howe

truss[6] with associated timber trestle-work and stone abutments. Like the Boston and Providence

bridge over Blackstone River, to prevent its being set afire by sparks from the smokestacks of

woodburning engines Bussey Bridge had been sheathed with nailed-on metal sheeting, which also

served to prevent destructive weathering and rot. In 1869-70 the west side of the wooden bridge was

rebuilt with an iron truss built by National Iron Company of Boston. In 1876 this truss was moved to

replace the remaining eastern half of the wooden bridge and a new iron truss of different design was

added on the west side by Edmund H. Hewins of the Metropolitan Bridge Company. Though the

total length of the bridge was 180 feet, the span between abutments was 74 feet, width 40 feet, and

25 feet above the street.

The rebuilt bridge, constructed of iron girders, was considered state-of-the-art. A fill 25 or 30 feet

high, atop which ran the track, extended for some distance in each direction from the bridge.

The train unfortunately involved in the Bussey Bridge wreck that Monday was the 7:00 a. m.

Boston-bound commuter run out of Dedham (milepost 5.34 on the Branch), pulled by locomotive

number 12 (the second Boston and Providence engine of that number), Benjamin B. Torrey, a 35.5-

ton 4-4-0 type with 60-inch drive wheels, built by Rhode Island in 1880. At the throttle was 52-year-

old engineman Walter E. White[7] , a veteran of 34 years on the Dedham-Boston run. A little after 6

on that gray 34-degree morn[8] , White and his fireman Alfred E. Billings, 32, mounted the steep

steps to the Torrey‟s cab and eased their way from the enginehouse the short distance to Dedham‟s brownstone passenger depot, where their train of red-painted wooden passenger cars awaited.

Normally the run called for eight cars, but this Monday there were nine. These, reading from the

head end, were day coaches number 52, 18, 28, 87, 54, 80, 81 and 82, with so-called “combine” number 1, a baggage and smoking car, on the hind end.[9] The passengers, about half of whom

would be picked up at Roslindale, were mostly commuters, businessmen, working men and store

girls on their way to work in Boston, but there also were school children. In charge of the train was

32-year-old conductor William H. Alden aided by assistant conductors Myron Tilden, 29, and

Webster N. Drake, plus brakemen John Tripp, Winfield W. Smith and Elisha Annis, who also acted

as baggage master.[10]

There had been a frost that morning, and the early chill was taken off the coaches by a patented

Chilson Conical Stove manufactured in Gardner Chilson‟s Mansfield foundry and set midway of each car. It is significant that these were “safety stoves,” fastened by rods to the car floors, with

doors that could be bolted closed, so that in case of upset the hot coals would not spill out and start

629

fires such as those that had turned some other wrecks into funeral pyres.

After White backed his engine onto the train, a brakeman connected the coupling and air brake

hose, passengers were taken aboard, and the train pulled out of Dedham on time. But almost right

off, White began having troubles that caused him to fall behind schedule. For one thing, Torrey had

been fitted recently with a new smokestack a little smaller than the original, and this constricted the

engine‟s steaming qualities. Besides this, there was the extra trailing weight of the added car, and, on this cold morning, the wheel bearings were stiff, making the train harder to pull.

Inbound from Spring Street, the stations were closely spaced, less than a half mile apart on the

average, so White was unable to build up much speed. Rolling past meadows thinly coated with

snow, he made his scheduled stops at Spring Street, West Roxbury, Highland, Central (now

Bellevue) and Roslindale, falling a bit farther behind schedule at each depot. By the time he reached

Roslindale, through no fault of his own he was seven minutes late.

Leaving this stop with 270 passengers aboard, White, as he twirled the handle to release the air

brake, looked forward to drifting downgrade to the junction at Forest Hills. Tugging the throttle lever

part way open, he rolled Torrey around the easy left-hand curve and onto Bussey bridge at between

15 and 20 miles per hour. As the locomotive reached the center of the span he felt a sudden shock

from the engine‟s front end, and when Torrey‟s drive wheels reached the farther abutment there came a second jolt more powerful than anything he‟d ever experienced, while from behind came a

splintering, tearing sound.

At the same moment, back in the coaches, “the passengers felt a sudden jolting of the cars, followed almost instantly by a forward shooting movement.” Engineer White, leaning out the cab window on the padded arm-rest, looked back to see the first

day coach, number 52, derailed and performing a crazy dance, and the bridge beginning to buckle

under the weight of the train. Then came a roar and the span fell in a cloud of dust. Engine and

tender had made it across, as did the first three cars, but the other six coaches had gone down with

the bridge into the 74-foot gap, the crash of splintering cars and snapping bridge members

punctuated by the terrified shouts and screams of the passengers.

White immediately threw his weight into hauling back the reverse lever, this being the quickest

way to stop the engine. But then he felt another shock as the coupling behind the tender snapped, and

he saw that Torrey had broken away from the cars, with their load of terrified passengers. There was

but one thing to do. Shoving the lever forward again, White then yanked the throttle wide open,

grabbed the whistle cord with his other hand and raced downgrade toward Forest Hills, whistle

screaming the alarm.

630

He knew that on the passing siding at the junction engineer Tim Prince with a three-car train from

Boston awaited his arrival so he could proceed west on the single track. This train carried laborers

headed to a bridge project at Dedham -- men who would prove invaluable at the wreck scene.

Braking to a stop at Forest Hills, White and fireman Billings yelled at station agent William Worley

that their train had gone through Bussey bridge and to send Prince‟s train of workmen to the rescue. White then slid down from the gangway, ran into the depot and told Worley to telegraph Boston for

the wreck train and to summon doctors and ambulances, and (knowing the wooden coaches with

their trapped riders might take fire from stoves) the Roslindale fire department.

Prince was immediately instructed over the dispatcher‟s telegraph line to proceed to the wreck, and White received orders to reverse his engine and follow him. Prince may not then have known

that his son was one of the passengers seriously injured in the disaster.

Back at the fallen bridge the scene was like a nightmare. Coaches 18 and 28, the second and third

cars in the train, had crossed the gap behind the first car, number 52, but were derailed and badly

damaged; one of the wheel trucks had broken off and rolled down the embankment. The fourth car,

number 87, had almost made it across. It crashed against the abutment and rolled, badly crushed,

into the street close to the bank, one side wholly ripped away and its roof torn cleanly off like the

cover of a box and left lying on the frozen roadbed just clear of the bridge.

Coach 54, the fifth car in the train, was the worst wrecked, having collapsed endwise like a

telescope for half its length, its roof and sides crushed to kindling wood. It lay near the side of South

Street, and it was at once obvious to the earliest rescuers that great loss of life and limb had occurred

in this car. The sixth coach, number 80, fell diagonally across the street, twisted and smashed, its

roof torn completely off. Car seven, number 81, shorn of its wheel trucks, had slithered down into

the street and came to rest on its bottom in an upright position, its roof and floor “crushed like a closed accordeon,” though otherwise it suffered the least damage of any; cars 54, 80 and 81, were

piled one on another. The eighth coach, number 82, also fell into the street, tipped partially over and

shattered to kindling.

The ninth and last car in the train was combine number 1. All its passengers were men, and they

had just about filled the car. It rolled over as it fell and landed upside-down in the street, its roof

ripped off and sides collapsed, with the one wheel truck that hadn't come loose aimed at the sky.

Most of the fatalities occurred in this car.

The bridge span itself was gone, not a vestige of it left but the abutments. The iron trestlework

was mixed up with the wreckage of the cars. A section of the track originally atop the bridge was

bent over like an oxbow and lay beside the embankment.

631

From within this hellacious tangle of rails, girders, trusses, trucks and shattered timbers, arose the

groans, screams and terrified cries for help of trapped, injured and dying passengers. Here and there

were people struggling desperately to free themselves from beneath the masses of wood and iron that

weighed them down.

Potentially worst of all, a fire began to burn in the seat upholstery of one of the coaches.[11]

There was one lucky aspect to this grim wreck: Bussey Bridge was situated in a populated section.

Had the disaster occurred (like some of the other railroad "horrors") in a remote area, the death toll

from fire might have been great. There were passengers in the wreckage who had escaped serious

injury but being caught in the maze of twisted metal and splintered wood would have perished

horribly had flames spread uncontrolled. But Roslindale residents living in the vicinity heard the

dreadful crash, the news got around quickly, and almost at once hundreds of persons, including a

wood-cutting crew from nearby Bussey Farm, came running, followed by police and horse-drawn

apparatus from Roslindale fire station. Quick work by the fire fighters extinguished the blaze,

preventing what could have been a holocaust. As a result, no one was burned to death.

Many of the injured managed to drag themselves from the wreckage. Two young men pinned amid

flammable debris in an overturned car looked up to see a stove filled with red-hot coals hanging

upside-down just above their heads. But the doors of the stove remained shut and the bolts securing

it to the floor held until the two men could be freed. One source, in reporting on the accident, says

that the value of the Chilson safety stoves with which each car was provided was effectively proved,

as most were found intact with their doors locked.[12]

Within minutes railroad men, police, fire fighters and volunteers were tearing at the debris to

rescue as many of the trapped and injured passengers as they could.

Still, there were horrors enough. First to be removed from the smashed cars was the headless

corpse of a woman. Some passengers were crushed to death, some dismembered, many mangled.

Others were speared through their bodies by wood splinters.

A Jamaica Plain resident, Allen H. Chapman, superintendent of New England Telephone and

Telegraph Company, who heard the crash while waiting for his own commuter train, arrived on the

scene 15 minutes after the wreck occurred. He found fire fighters of Engine 13, Jamaica Plain,

already at work clearing away wreckage and taking out bodies. Captain Vinal of police station 13

also was at hand with a force of bluecoats. There were then very few cries coming from the wreck;

Chapman heard only the moans of the injured and dying. He watched 13 bodies removed, seven men

632

and six women. The police ambulance from Station 4 was telephoned for, but before it arrived the

bodies were taken away in carriages and wagons – the nearby Sturtevant Blower Company furnished

all their teams for this purpose. Some of the passengers got out of the wreck by themselves and

others were helped out.

An off-duty Boston and Providence locomotive engineer riding the train, William Bowman, who

for years had run Moses B. Ives, engine number 44, on the main line, was so badly hurt he never

worked again.

Premature rumors had it that as many as 40 persons had died, but more careful investigation

showed (and even the reduced figure was bad enough) that in all, 23 passengers and crew, mostly in

the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth cars, lost their lives and 100 to 115 were injured, more than half of

them seriously. Most of those killed died almost instantly; a small number survived a few hours to

several days. A young Dedham passenger named Edward T. Norris, who worked as a clerk in the

Boston and Providence freight house, was carried in a dying condition to a neighboring boot and

shoe store, and his father and brother were summoned from Dedham. He died at about 10:15 a. m.

Among the dead was assistant conductor Myron Tilden, one of four Dedham residents to perish in

the wreck.[13] Brakeman Winfield Smith, a former Mansfield resident, was at first reported among

the dead, but later was found to have been taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where

it was thought he stood a fair chance of recovering from his injuries.[14]

Doctors hastily recruited from the professional buildings around Boston‟s Park Square station were hustled aboard a special train and arrived in time to give aid. Chapman reported that by 9 a. m.

Doctors Stedman, Gerry and Tompkins of Jamaica Plain and Dr. Goddard of Boston were on the

scene, caring for sufferers.

One of the first to reach the spot was the Reverend John F. Cummins, curate of St. Thomas

Church in nearby Jamaica Plain. Father Cummins gave the last rites to many of the dying. On the

following day, churches in the area held memorial services for the dead and recited prayers for the

recovery of those who had been maimed.

The injured were taken first to police station 13 about two miles from the wreck. All the police

ambulances were summoned from Boston, and most of the wounded and dead were removed to the

City Hospital. Many of the walking wounded were taken directly to their homes. Among those killed

was patrolman W. R. Lailor, attached to division 13; he left a widow and two children.

Large numbers of people, even from Mansfield, swarmed to Forest Hills on Monday, Tuesday and

Wednesday, mainly to gaze on the scene out of morbid curiosity.

A meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners was convened next day,

633

Tuesday, 15 March, and sat until 4 April, collecting facts and interviewing witnesses and railroad

employes, but whether the investigation or the lawsuits against the railroad came first is hard to say;

there were many of the latter. It quickly became evident that here was a wreck not caused by human

error – at least not by the error of any humans on the spot at the time. The lengthy investigation

focused on two points: the bridge and the train's brakes. The Commissioners charged that two of the

coaches in the doomed train were not equipped with air brakes, though at that time no enforcement

authority existed that required the railroad to provide its cars with air.

Most of the cars were equipped with the old-style Westinghouse "straight air" brakes that lost their

pressure when the cars separated and the air hose connections between them were pulled apart,

rendering the brake ineffective. This type of brake had been obsolescent since Westinghouse in 1874

introduced the "automatic brake" which applied when the air pressure was vented; Boston and

Providence in that year had tried the automatic brake on at least one of its passenger trains.[15] The

editor of an engineering review (he referred to the accident as "The second Ashtabula," a gross

overstatement) in discussing the wreck estimated that with the automatic brake, at the moderate

speed at which the train was traveling the last three cars would have stopped themselves before

plunging over the first masonry abutment, while those cars that went down with the broken span

would have settled straight down as the brakes applied, rather than rolling forward and crashing into

the further abutment. Thus the use of modern air brakes might have saved many lives.

The Commissioners also noted that only three brakemen had been assigned to the run, whereas the

Commission rule for a nine-car passenger train required at least four, so that there should be

sufficient crewmen to wind the hand brake on each car. Whether an added brakeman would have

made any difference is questionable. No blame, however, was attached to the train or engine crew.

A far more serious charge coming from the Commissioners was that Edmund[16] H. Hewins, who

designed and rebuilt the overpass, had little or no knowledge of bridge construction. He appears to

have been a soul cousin of "Potiphar Gubbins, C. E." of poetic fiction, of whom Kipling wrote,

"Each bridge that he makes either buckles or breaks." Hewins, when he rebuilt the structure in 1876,

had purported to represent a firm called the Metropolitan Bridge Company, but the Commission

found in its investigation that there was no such firm nor had there ever been. On the witness stand,

Hewins claimed that "it was his intention at the time to organize a bridge company, and he

commenced under that name by himself until such time as the organization could be made." But he

had never gone ahead with his alleged plans.

Neither had the railroad corporation supervised Hewins in his performance of the bridge contract,

which was carelessly drawn up to begin with, under conditions bordering on fraudulency. The

634

construction superintendents admitted knowing that the two bridge trusses were built by two

different steel works having other names. No one involved in the contract knew much about building

iron bridges, and no one, including the Boston and Providence, had looked into the Metropolitan

Bridge Company, but having known Hewins previously as manager of an iron works in Reading,

Massachusetts, had taken him at his word, his bearing having "impressed them as that of an able and

upright man." Superintendent A. A. Folsom testified that he had received "a favorable report" on

Hewins from a man who since had died, and vaguely recollected that "he may have inquired of one

or two others." The Board stated that the bridge design and specifications should never have been

accepted.

The non-standard bridge built by Hewins had its deadly peculiarities. One writer[17] notes that

the skew angle of the span was so sharp in relation to the abutments flanking South Street that “the floor beam which ran from the center of the truss on one side rested on the end of the truss which

supported the other side of the bridge,” and adds that the bridge‟s design “was such that certain

structural members carried a disproportionate share of the load . . . .”

The investigation narrowed down to two wrought iron suspension hangers that held the floor

beams on the western side of the bridge. They were under-designed for the load they were required

to carry, were made of inferior iron and imperfectly welded. Over time they had developed deeply

rusted breaks which might have been discovered had the railroad made annual inspections as

required by Commission regulations, but the one employe assigned by the company to inspect the

bridge at regular intervals was a machinist who lacked structural training. Neither had the railroad

ever tested the load factor of the completed bridge, nor did a trained engineer ever look at the

original design or inspect it after it was built; the railroad "in fact, consulted nobody in regard to it."

Critical parts of the wreckage, including the two iron hangers, were sent to the Watertown,

Massachusetts, arsenal for analysis. The hangers had been expected to support four-fifths of the

weight of a passing train. But tests performed by metallurgists revealed that the strain of 48,000

pounds per square inch placed on the hangers and their welds by an ordinary train was equal to their

breaking strength. Said their report, "The design in many of its details proved to be bad." It was

decided that constant vibration gradually had weakened the iron, until on that morning of 14 March

1887 the hangers snapped under the load.

The investigation revealed other factors that may have contributed to the disaster. The ties were

spaced too far apart. There were no guard rails spiked down parallel to the running rails to keep off-

the-track wheels in place[18] . Even before the disaster local residents were said to have found loose

bolts and nuts lying in the road under the bridge.

635

The Commissioners, after listening to testimony from an outside engineer named George L.

Vose,[19] advised that every railroad in the state be required to have all their bridges inspected at

least once in two years and preferably twice annually by a competent civil engineer, whose reports,

plans and strain sheets would be handed to both the railroad company and the Commission. The

Massachusetts General Court felt that this was a worthy idea, and the Commission, which was

empowered to engage its own engineer, hired George Swain of the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology in Cambridge to carry out the bridge inspections and to turn in yearly statements to the

board. The Commissioners also recommended the adoption of improved designs of bridge floors and

guard rails. The result was that the $1.1 million spent annually before 1887 by all the state's railroads

on bridge repair and renewal was increased in 1888 to $1.8 million.[20]

The report of the Commissioners was submitted to the Massachusetts legislature by 5 May.[21]

Lawsuits brought against the railroad after the accident, like those following the 1836 Roxbury

wreck, nearly bankrupted the corporation. Boston and Providence admitted liability, so that the

major issue became the amount of damages to be awarded. Most of the suits were settled out of

court. The majority of the damage-seekers were represented by a Dedham attorney, George F.

Williams, later a well known Democratic political leader who supported populist William Jennings

Bryan's failed run for the presidency in 1896.

To replace the destroyed bridge the railroad built a stone arch so solid that one almost could

mistake it for part of the landscape. Many trains have rolled over this new bridge without the

slightest problem; but Father Cummins said he was never able to pass the spot without a shudder,

and the members of the household of engineer Walter White – a railroad family in the true sense –

never forgot the story of that fateful morning. White retired two years afterward.

In 1888 the Dedham Branch was double-tracked, new stations were built and new gates were

installed at street crossings.[22]

The Bussey bridge disaster had repercussions throughout the United States. When it was

demonstrated that constant vibration could weaken iron members, hundreds of iron bridges all over

the country were removed and replaced..[23]

Even in tragic situations, cartoonists often have the last word, and a drawing entitled "The Future

of New England Railroads," published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper not long after the

wreck, portrays a gentleman trudging along a railroad track with walking stick and satchel in hand. A

farmerish-looking countryman leaning on a trackside fence hails him: "Hello, stranger! Whar ye

goin'?" Traveler: "To Boston." Countryman: "WHAT!!!" Traveler: "Yes, I'll foot it. I don't want any

636

White River or Forest Hills episodes in mine."[24]

As if one accident were not enough, Boston and Providence on the same day staged another, not

far from the scene of the first, when a green engineer and crew, probably emotionally drained by

having just experienced the worst day in the history of their railroad, flubbed a piece of fancy-dan

switching:

While the discussion of the great railroad disaster on the Providence road was at its height, the public

were startled by the report that another accident had occurred on the same railroad, near Forest Hills

station. Many refused to believe the statement, thinking it had been confounded with the morning

disaster. Investigation of the report reveals the fact that another accident had occurred upon the main

line, just beyond the Forest Hills station.

As near as can be ascertained, the facts are that the local train for Forest Hills and way stations

which leaves Boston at 6.25 p. m., started out in charge of a new engineer and crew. Forest Hills

station was reached in safety and all the passengers had left the train. As usual, the train ran ahead, the

engine was uncoupled and a flying switch was made in order to place the engine upon the proper end

of the train for the return trip, there being no turntable at this point. In some manner the engine failed

to run far enough ahead of the switch. The forward passenger car struck the rear end of the tender a

glancing blow, which smashed in the end of the passenger car, and the car was thrown off the iron and

across the inward and third tracks, completely blocking these two tracks and leaving the outward track

the only clear one. When the passenger car struck the tender of the engine a large hole was broken in

the tank, the water ran out and thus the engine was totally disabled. It took nearly two hours to clear

the tracks, during which time all inward trains were blockaded, it being impossible to run them around

the wreck by means of the outward track.[25]

637

NOTES

1. J. H. White, Jr., 2002, in "Discussion," Railroad history, n. 186, spring 2002: 146. White points out that of 280

million passengers carried on all U. S. railroads in 1880, 143 were killed.

The Mass. legislature reported in 1848 that the railroads in that state in the 13 years in which they operated had killed

22 passengers and injured 69. In the seven years preceding 1852 only 42 of 55,357,000 passengers carried on the state's

railways, or one in 1.3 million, had been killed, 20 of these through their own negligence in trying to jump on or off

moving trains. Employes were another matter: in the same period 120 had been killed, 32 of them freight brakemen

bashed against overhead bridges (Harlow 1946: 366).

2. Shaw 2001: 36.

3. Although Shaw (2001: 37) admits no deaths in this head-on collision.

4. The Revere crash occurred when an Eastern R. R. rear-end collision killed 29 in 1871, and the Old Colony R. R.

suffered a serious wreck 8 Oct. 1878 when a misplaced switch at Wollaston, near Boston, derailed a passenger train,

killing 21 excursionists. At Camp Hill, on the North Pennsylvania R. R., a head-on collision caused by human error

incinerated 66 young excursionists from St. Michael's Church in Philadelphia when red-hot coals from the car stoves

turned the wooden coaches into a huge bonfire. (Excursion trains, being "extra" or unscheduled runs that resulted in

everything having to be done a little differently from the norm, seem to have been particularly susceptible to disastrous

wrecks.) The Angola, N. Y., and Ashtabula, Oh., "horrors" occurred when speeding Lake Shore & Michigan Southern

passenger trains were wrecked on bridges, in each case the cars catching fire: in the first accident, 42 persons were

crushed or burned alive and in the second (in which the bridge collapsed) 81 were cremated. These major wrecks, like

today‟s plane crashes, were by far the exception rather than the rule.

My account of the Bussey Bridge disaster is drawn from Boston Daily Globe 15 Mar. 1887; Mansfield News 18 Mar.

1887, which includes an eye witness description by N. E. Tel. & Tel. Sup‟t A. H. Chapman; Engineering News 19 Mar.

1887: 188-192, 30 Apr. 1887: 285-7, 13 Apr. 1893: 344, 10 Aug. 1899: 88 and 9 Sept. 1909: 270-6; Sci. Am. Supplement

no. 586, week ending 26 Mar. 1887: 197; Railway Review 8 Oct. 1887: 583; Mass. Bd. of RR Comms. 1889: 26-28, 38-

52 and Appen. C; Robbins Sept. 1888: 68-72; AREA Proc. 1913: 652-76, 1136-43, 1138, and 1914: 270-6; Damon (who

misspells the bridge "Buzzey") in Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 81; Belcher 1938: no. 12 (a full account); Harlow 1946: 377-8;

Beebe and Clegg 1952: 320 (q. v. for photo of wreck); Haywood 1953 (q. v. for photos of both bridge and wreck); Reed

(who consistently misspells the bridge "Busey") 1968: 86-7, illustration on p. 31; Sweeney 1976; Boston 200 Hist. 1976;

Donovan 1987: 5 and Jan. 1992: 10; Galvin 1987: 16; Lee 1987: 9 (contains two photos by J. W. Barnes from coll. of

Carl L. Smith); Swanberg 1988: 548; Widershien 1998, who incorrectly refers to the wreck as "the first major train

disaster in American history;" and Sweeney 2006, the best account of the wreck that I have seen, with diagrams and

photos.

‟Tis an ill wind that blows no good: Of the large number of spectators who came to view the wreckage, many found the town of Roslindale so attractive (one artistic writer compared the 1887 scene to a Monet-like canvas) that they

returned there to live, causing the first major influx of new residents in the town's history.

Sweeney (2006) gives the engine‟s name as “B. B. Torrey” rather than “Benjamin B. Torrey.” I am unable to say

638

which version is correct. The one photo of “Torrey” in Sweeney 2006: 6 is too unclear to read the name painted on the cab.

5. The name "Roslindale" had been adopted in 1870. Originally the locality was known as simply South Street

Crossing, after a Boston & Providence grade crossing that predated the deadly bridge.

6. Many who have written of the Bussey Bridge wreck (Beebe and Clegg among them) refer to the collapsed span

as a "Howe truss" and point out that this type of bridge was responsible for many serious accidents. It cannot be denied

that the Howe truss was involved in a number of bad wrecks. Created in 1840 by farmer-turned-engineer William Howe,

whose brother Elias was one of the inventors of the sewing machine, and assisted by his carpenter brother-in-law Amasa

Stone, later a railroad president, the Howe truss was devised to permit quick and easy construction with unseasoned

timber, the inevitable and expected wood shrinkage being taken up with adjustable bolts and nuts. Howe's invention was

a modification of an older truss devised by our former locomotive-designing acquaintance Col. Stephen H. Long, whose

wooden uprights Howe replaced with vertical iron tie rods (Cook 1987: 206; Russell Dec. 1988: 101). Swanberg (1988:

548) points out, however, that the 1887 Bussey Bridge was a double iron truss designed by Hewins, replacing the

original Howe truss. In fact, it was not the truss that failed, as was found in the investigation.

Sci. Am. Suppl. no. 585, week ending 26 Mar. 1887: 197, before the investigation was completed, states, "The exact

cause of the breaking down of the bridge has not yet been ascertained, but it is believed to be due to its weak and rickety

condition and lack of thorough examinations."

7. Haywood, who in 1953 interviewed White's son Wilbert B. White, a locomotive engineer for the New Haven

R.R., gives the name as John Warren White. Belcher (1938), a careful researcher who appears to have taken his detailed

account of the wreck from contemporary newspapers, calls the engineer Walter E. White, and the equally careful

Sweeney (1975, 2006) says Walter White, as does the Mansfield News (18 Mar. 1887). “Walter” certainly is correct. 8. I have used the believable weather and temperature data in Sweeney (1975). Another account states that the

morning was sunny and bright with a hint of spring in the air, but this may be someone‟s guesswork. 9. Most published accounts of the wreck claim there were nine cars in the train, but the Mansfield News (18 Mar.

1887) incorrectly says 10 cars. Sweeney (2006) states nine cars, also listing the numbers, and publishes a drawing from

the Mass. Board of R. R. Commissioners Report which indicates nine cars. Sweeney points out, “It was difficult to distinguish one car from another, so crushed and mangled were the remains,” making it easy to understand how the number of cars was confused even by eye witnesses such as the telephone company official who was quoted in the

Mansfield News.

10. The Mansfield News (18 Mar. 1887) lists the conductor as Herbert Alden. The 1 Apr. 1887 Mansfield News

incorrectly notes that the accident-prone Clarence White, who had been for several years in conductor “Ham” Nason‟s crew running between Boston and Providence, had been appointed conductor in Myron Tilden‟s place.

11. The Mansfield News (18 Mar. 1887) says that day coach 54 “was the only car that took fire.” Sweeney (1975, 2006) says there was one small fire in coach 28, the third car in the train and the last one remaining on the roadbed,

quickly extinguished by survivors; and that at least two other fires started in the wreckage in the street These flames,

which arose from unknown sources, were put out before they spread so that none of the trapped passengers burned to

death.

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12. The value of safety stoves already had been demonstrated on B&P when on 21 Jan. 1868 two passenger cars

attached to the rear of a Boston-bound mail train derailed at speed because of a broken rail a half mile south of Mansfield

station. One of the cars turned upside down, but the car stove, being securely bolted to the floor, stayed in its place and

the hot coals in the stove simply shifted from the bottom of the stove to the top, preventing a general fire. There were no

fatalities in this accident. (NY Times 22 Jan. 1868.) I learned of this derailment after the main text of this monograph had

been completed.

13. Hill 1896. Two of the four Dedham fatalities were teen-aged girls.

14. Mansfield News 18 Mar. 1887. Smith for two or three years had been the widower of a daughter of B&P

engineman Henry N. Paine.

15. Mansfield News 15 May 1874.

16. Reed (1968: 87) gives the bridge engineer‟s full name as Edmund Harlow Hewins (1946: 177). Sweeney (1975) calls him Edward; however Sweeney (2006) gives the name correctly as Edmund H. Hewins.

17. Sweeney 1975.

18. Kunze 1974/1994.

19. Prof. Vose was a member of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, before which on 15 Sept. 1886 he read a

detailed and fairly lengthy biography of George W. Whistler (see references).

20. The detailed testimony heard in the Commissioners' investigation was printed in 1887, with photographs, in the

form of a hard-cover 420-page Special Report to the Mass. General Court, by Heliotype Printing Co. of Boston. The

photos were taken by John Greatorex, a Boston newspaper photographer and the official photographer for the Mass.

Board of Railroad Commissioners. Not long afterward either Heliotype or Greatorex sold sets of five wreck pictures

mounted on cardboard, many of which still exist (F. D. Donovan 1987: 5, and letter in NHRHTA Newsletter Jan. 1992:

10).

21. The Nation 5 May 1887.

22. Freeley 2004.

23. Kunze 1974/1994.

24. Reproduced in Reed 1968: 83. "White River" refers to another bridge collapse and resulting holocaust on the

Vermont Central R. R., 5 February 1887.

25. Mansfield News 18 Mar. 1887. Also Boston Daily Globe 15 Mar. 1887, which says it was more than three hours

before the tracks were cleared.

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MIXED TRAIN TO PROVIDENCE

A HISTORY OF

THE BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE RAIL ROAD

AND CONNECTING LINES

WITH EMPHASIS ON MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Part Six

Harry B. Chase, Jr., 2006

38 – A cavalry sergeant rides herd on Mansfield yard

On 1 April 1887 Old Colony workers received a wage increase that applied system-wide. Yard

conductors would earn $63 per month during the first year of their service, increasing to $65

thereafter; brakemen would receive $47.50 during the first year, then $52.50. On the negative side of

the coin, no vacations were allowed and all trainmen were to be employed by the month. Extra time

would be paid for, but a deduction would be made for time not spent at work.[1]

We know that spring had arrived along the Boston and Providence because on Saturday, 9 April,

an errant spark from one of their engines set the woods on fire near School Street in Mansfield,

burning over several acres and sending a pall of smoke over the town.[2]

In April the editor of the Mansfield News, who previously never hesitated to laud the Old Colony

as superior to Boston and Providence, obviously disturbed not only by the Bussey bridge disaster but

by the criticism of the Boston and Providence management aroused in its wake, unburdened himself

of a long, overblown and unparagraphed message which, in its unstinted praise for the corporation

and shut-eye denial of the unpleasant findings of the subsequent investigation, might have been

penned by the railroad‟s directors themselves:

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The Boston and Providence Railroad, incorporated and constructed more than fifty years ago, and

built for the purpose of connecting two important seaports, and not for the building up of local traffic – an

uncertain and doubtful project at its outset, but by reason of its judicious, liberal and public-spirited

management – has become a great factor in the growth and prosperity of the whole territory through which its

roadway passes. Great and thriving municipalities have sprung up, known the world over by their products

and handiwork, are now dependent for their continued prosperity upon this corporation, whose spirit of

accommodation never fails, and whose desire to meet the wants of the public never languishes. The most of

the growth of the towns contiguous and adjacent to this railroad has occurred during and under the present

management of the road, which fact furnishes the strongest possible evidence of the superiority of the

management, and also furnishes the reason for the priority of its stock upon State street, as in the other

financial centers of the world. The care of its road bed, the perfection of its rolling stock, the character of its

employees, the skill and judgement, and railroad knowledge and experience of its superintendent, have all

contributed to the security of its passengers from accident and the ease and comfort of the traveling public.

The freedom from fatal casualties upon its road has been of frequent and almost universal comment. But there

came a morning, when by the falling of a bridge over which a loaded passenger train was at the time passing,

that the whole country was shocked by the appalling consequences, and scores of before united and happy

families were shrouded in sackcloth and sorrow. The direct cause of this sad and appalling calamity none have

told and none ever will tell. Of course we have the report of the railroad commissioners, an opinion emanating

from highest authority, and one which is entitled to great weight. Quite a number of men examined as bridge

experts, pronounced the bridge, which had stood the weight and wear and tear of sixty trains per day for

years, as faulty and imperfect in every respect; then, by men of no known experience or knowledge in railroad

matters, the management of the road is assailed and abused in a cruel, unjustifiable and reprehensible manner.

That management so liberal, so equitable, so far-seeing, anticipating the wants of the traveling public,

adapting every device of ability, safety and practicability, giving new trains and increased facilities as fast as,

and even faster in some localities than, increased business warranted or profits justified. The accident was as

keenly felt, as deeply regretted and as terribly surprising to the management, as it was by or to anybody, and it

was great to all, as all had always believed this one of the safest and best managed roads in the country, and in

this they had been justified by its history. The cause of the accident was, as we have before hinted, a hidden

and unknown cause; and it will in all probability ever remain so. It may have been a broken rail, a broken

brake beam, a derailment or a defective bridge. We can hardly believe the theory of one expert who, we think,

said that the bridge was very defective in construction, and that the only reason for its standing so long as it

did was the “force of habit;” a most marvelous and novel declaration, and one which if true we would most earnestly desire that that habit might be cultivated by the bridges and towering structures of the country. It

will be found extremely difficult, if not impossible, to so construct bridges over streams and highways upon a

plan that brings every detail of construction to the plain view and sight of the examiner. And in view of all

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these things we say that the abusive censure, criticism and insults to which the management of this road have

been subjected, is reprehensible in the extreme, and deserves, as we believe it receives, the condemnation of

well-meaning, thinking men.

All this in the face of the damning facts that bridge-builder Hewins had little or no knowledge of

bridge construction, pretended to represent a bridge company that proved to be non-existent and

engaged construction firms lacking experience with bridges; that the bridge was under-designed for

the loads it was expected to carry; or that no one from the railroad corporation had supervised

Hewins‟s work or had stress-tested or even properly inspected the bridge after its completion.

In May 1887 the Mansfield paper lets us know that a “large force of men are at work on the new

tracks running on either side of the new Old Colony freight depot.”[3]

As of 30 May the public were informed of important changes in the time of the “Shore Line” train leaving Providence for Boston. Instead of departing the Rhode Island capital at 7 p. m. it now would

leave at 6 “or on arrival from New York.” and arrive in Boston at 7:05. Railroad freight was reported in May to be unusually light, a change from a few months before.

As for checked baggage, in that same month Boston and Providence put new rules into effect: That

storage fees of 25 cents per piece for the first day, and 10 cents per day thereafter, would be charged;

and that (in those days when no one traveled without a trunk) all baggage over 150 pounds per

person must be paid for, and not until a ticket was presented to the baggage agent would it be

checked aboard a train.[4]

Mansfield residents only a few years previously had petitioned unsuccessfully for a passenger

station at East Street in that town. Now it was West Street‟s turn, as a petition bearing over 100 persons, headed by Schuyler C. Shepard, was sent to Superintendent A. A. Folsom of the Boston and

Providence, asking for a new depot to be established nearly on the site of James Greene‟s 1836 passenger house, little more than a half mile from the existing central station. Folsom‟s reply, dated 21 June, was, as might have been expected, brief and in the negative:

Dear Sirs: – Your favor of 10th March reached me on 2d. We regret to say that we cannot.establish

another station at Mansfield. Already we have two in that town, which we consider to be quite

sufficient. It costs a great deal of money to maintain a station.[5]

Two evenings in a row, 5 and 6 July, the 5:30 p. m. “Boat Train” from Boston was delayed for a

short time at Mansfield because the 1873 Roxbury-built locomotive Viaduct, number 45, became

disabled. In each case the train was taken on to Providence by 1864 Griggs engine number 19,

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Commonwealth, which was stationed at Mansfield.[6]

Hopes for a new and better station were never far from the minds of Mansfield residents, and

“notwithstanding the thoughts of some that the building of a new depot here would not come to pass for some years to come, we are told upon the most reliable authority, that the plans are now being

drawn, and that such a building is among the probabilities of the near future.”[7] A writer in the local

paper referred to the 27-year-old station as “a laughing-stock all along the shore line” and “totally unfit for the needs of this rapidly growing railroad center.” Perhaps as a result, a week later someone was seen taking measurements of the building, supposedly “with a view to either remodel the old building or erect a new structure.”[8] But alas for such dreams; “reliable authority” or not, young Mansfield parents of that time and their children and most of their grandchildren would grow old and

die before a new passenger station came to town.

In May 1887 a 20-year-old lad named Patrick Cahill came to America from County Waterford,

Ireland, charged with all the optimism of youth, and hired out at Mansfield with the Boston and

Providence. Not the kind who was content to stay at his first job, a couple of months later he moved

to a better one, at Chilson‟s foundry. But Boston and Providence still owed him $10 or $11 in back

wages, so on the morning of Thursday, 11 August, when the railroad‟s pay train arrived, he got permission to leave his work in order to collect the money due him. To clear the main track for the

Providence-bound “Shore Line Express,” scheduled through Mansfield at about 10:35, the pay train was backed onto the freight house track, and there it was that young Cahill joined the employes who

went aboard to sign for their wages.

A few minutes later Cahill stepped down from the car, the money in his pocket, and started back

to Chilson‟s. For reasons unknown, he chose to cross the main tracks. Onlookers yelled a warning that the express was almost upon him, but the shouts seemed to confuse him and for a fatal moment

he hesitated on the track. The locomotive, with engineer Benjamin Ward hanging onto the whistle

cord, the bell ringing, struck and threw him, and after he hit the ground his body rolled for some

distance. Killed almost instantly, he was found to have a fractured skull and a broken spine.[9]

* * *

I do not know the exact date that my grandfather Charles Elwin Chase took over the hectic and

demanding job of Mansfield yardmaster for Old Colony. It had to be after early 1883, when C. A.

Jones held the post. I do know he was yardmaster by August 1887 because of an odd happening that

644

I will come to. He held the job until 1890, when he left to go railroading in sunny California.

Most yardmasters were promoted switchmen; it used to be said that a switchman got his job when

he was able to lick all other railroaders and a yardmaster got his because he could lick all the

switchmen. Such talents were useful in running a busy yard, and my grandfather's background well

suited him to the position. Following brief service at age 15 in a Civil War infantry regiment, in 1866

when he was 16 he ran away from home, enlisted in the regular army (for the second time

successfully lying about his age, as he was big for his years) and asked to be sent west to fight

Indians, which wish was promptly and cheerfully granted. Eight years later, as a hard-nosed, hard-

riding cavalry sergeant who governed his men by "whistle, fist and boot" (to quote an old army

saying), had been shot at with both arrows and bullets and had witnessed the eye-gouging brawls and

fatal face-to-face gunfights later popularized in Hollywood and TV "Westerns," he took his

honorable discharge and came home to Leominster, Massachusetts.

Going like so many ex-soldiers from a dangerous life to one of humdrum routine, after obtaining

some experience as a maker of the then-fashionable jet or horn jewelry, he moved in 1876 to a

similar job in Mansfield, where he met and in 1879 married my grandmother Emily Augusta Reed,

who was then 18. Being, despite his lack of formal education, a quick study, before long with several

other men he set himself up in the jewelry business, in which line they had obtained a patent. But

their factory burned to the ground one night in 1880 and it was then that Chase gave up making

decorations for the ladies and hired out on the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford,

becoming an Old Colony employe when that corporation fully took over the Clinton in 1883.

My father told me[10] that as yardmaster, Charles Chase "got paid once a month and his salary was

$60 a month. And that was what he got regardless of the amount of work or hours. He said it was

common to work from 10 to 20 hours a day, depending on how things were going. No such thing as

overtime pay."

The Mansfield historian describes my grandfather's domain, the Mansfield freight yard, as having

"fourteen miles of rails – fourteen tracks of one mile each."[11] This is incorrect, as was pointed out

by another local historian.[12] I do not know how many tracks were in the yard when Charlie Chase

presided over it. My father, who went to work at Mansfield freight house in 1907, said it had 15. A

large-scale 1915 map in my possession[13] shows 20 tracks across the yard. But the tracks were not

a mile long. From the first switch at the south end of the yard opposite the roundhouse to the

crossovers at the north end measures 2800 feet on the map, while from the same starting point to the

north end of the "drill track" is 3600 feet. In 1915 the total length of the yard trackage exclusive of

the engine yard and Track 6, which was used as a running track or siding, but including the drill

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tracks used for shuffling cars was 34,030 feet or 6.45 miles.

In the 20th century, freight yards often were built with an artificial hump midway for sorting and

classifying cars by gravity. One handy accidental feature of Mansfield yard was that it had a natural

one-way hump. The grade in the south part of the yard is slight. But beginning 0.15 mile north of the

Rumford River culvert (former New Haven Railroad bridge 49.47) it increases to 1.04 percent. This

meant that a switch engine could drag a string (a "cut") of cars up the drill track at the north end of

the yard and then release them by ones or twos or some other convenient number to coast downhill

into the yard, where busy switchmen routed them to various tracks according to the assigned

destinations scribbled on their waybills, much as letters are sorted in a post office; the men riding the

cars brought them to a stop by wrenching the brake wheels with a hickory club.[14]

On 30 August 1887 the 2 p. m. Old Colony freight train set out a boxcar containing carboys of

corrosive liquid on a yard track near the tool house, just north of the tank house. Twenty minutes

later, freight checker William Nottage noticed the door of the car was partly open, which it shouldn‟t have been, and looking inside discovered a man of about 40, apparently a tramp, who said he was on

his way to Baltimore. The checker went to the freight house and came back with his boss,

yardmaster Charlie Chase, who in best cavalry sergeant style ordered the man out of the car. The

man jumped to the ground, for a moment seemed in fine condition, and then began to stagger.

Steadied by the railroaders, he claimed to feel all right, walked a few yards and fell, striking his head

on a car.

Chase and Bill Nottage now carried him into the tool house, lay him down and administered to

him as best they could, though he complained of severe intermittent pain and began frothing at the

mouth. Another employe was sent running for Dr. Allen. The good doctor on his arrival could do

nothing; the man died about 4:45 p. m., a long way from Baltimore.

A sheet of paper in his pocket bore the words “John Powers,” and it was assumed that this was his name. Somehow it was determined, or guessed at, that he was 37 years old. The cause of death is

given as “Apoplexy,” but it was the consensus of the yard men that he died of asphyxiation from

fumes from the carboys leaking into the closed boxcar. He was buried next day by the town in an

unused part of Mansfield‟s Union Street cemetery.[15]

It is from this strange news item that I know my grandfather was working as Old Colony day

yardmaster at Mansfield by August 1887.

* * *

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I am not aware that any great train robbery in the classic style of Jesse James ever took place on

the Boston and Providence. But crime will now and then rear its head, and in summer of 1887, while

Canton Junction agent Jacob Silloway was on vacation in London, the depot there was burglarized

for the second time, the loot consisting of $15 worth of plug tobacco.[16]

On the morning of 19 September 1887 General Phil Sheridan, the last surviving top commander of

Union armies in the Civil War, passed through Mansfield on the Boston and Providence and stopped

for some time at the depot while waiting for his car to continue on. Several citizens were privileged

to shake hands with the old hero, who hadn‟t long to live.[17]

The first real push to modernize the Boston and Providence-Old Colony junction at Mansfield got

under way in September 1887 when initial steps were taken toward the introduction of English-style

“interlocking.” With this system, the levers manipulated by an operator in an elevated tower to

control switches and signals were mechanically interconnected in such a way that it was impossible

for him to set up conflicting train movements.

It was Old Colony, not the Providence road, that led in this modernization. Back on 19 August

1885, that railroad had placed in service at Medfield Junction an English-designed Saxby and

Farmer interlocking machine, doing away with the previous “know-nothing” stop at the crossing of the New York and New England Railroad.[18] Having tested the system at this much smaller

junction, Old Colony now moved toward installing the system at other junctions – Walpole, South

Framingham, Fitchburg, Concord Junction, Braintree, Somerset and Mansfield.[19]

Where the changeover involved a junction with another railroad both the intersecting roads had to

share in the installation. The Mansfield paper of Friday, 23 September, notes:

Work will be commenced upon the switch tower which is to be erected by the B. and P. and Old

Colony railroad Cos., near the Chilson foundry, next Tuesday morning. The building will be 34 feet in

length and 15 feet wide. About 40 levers will be used in throwing the switches, and it is probable that

three men will be employed. The grand change in switches will be made on the first Sunday after

everything has been arranged. It has not yet been decided what disposition will be made with the

freight house, but it is likely that some change will be made.[20]

But a much greater change for both railroads was in the offing that would cause the proposed

Mansfield interlocking machine and tower to be more than doubled in size!

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NOTES

1. Mansfield News 13 May 1887.

2. Mansfield News 15 Apr. 1887.

3. Mansfield News 7 May 1987, “100 years ago.” 4. Three preceding items Mansfield News 13 May 1887.

5. Mansfield News 24 June 1887. Either Folsom‟s reply or the News item does not say the 2nd of what month. 6. Mansfield News 8 July 1887.

7. Mansfield News 27 Aug. 1987, “100 years ago.”

8. Mansfield News 22 and 29 July 1887.

9. Mansfield News 12 Aug. 1887; Ann. rep‟t of town officers of Mansfield for year ending Feb. 29, 1888: 39. 10. H. B. Chase to Private H. B. Chase, Jr., personal letter, 1 Nov. 1942. My grandfather was night yardmaster in

1890 at the time of leaving for California. He retired from the New Haven at age 74 with 44 years of railroading behind

him after being injured when piled freight fell on his leg, tearing the muscles. He was not compensated for this on-the-

job injury by the company, which also denied him a pension on the grounds he hadn't worked for them long enough! His

Indian War adventures, including service (fortunately brief) under Custer, appeared in a number of newspapers.

11. Copeland 1931f, 1936-56: 71.

12. Cooney c1965, who as quickly and perhaps correctly faulted me for writing some Mansfield News articles about

the railroads to entertain rather than to relay facts; but it is entertainment that sells papers.

13. Courtesy of J. P. Lienesch.

14. NYNH&H 1923. The nearest artificial hump to Mansfield was the later New Haven R. R. Northup Ave. yard in

Providence. The danger of sloping yards was that cars if not handled or secured properly could get away and run loose.

The north end of Mansfield yard was in Foxborough.

15. Mansfield News 2 Sept. 1887; Ann. rep‟t of town officers of Mansfield for year ending Feb. 29, 1888: 39. 16. Galvin 1987: 14.

17. Mansfield News 23 Sep. 1887.

18. Mansfield News 14 Aug. 1885. The “know-nothing” stop acted something like the four-way stop signs at a

highway crossroads in that all trains had to halt and not proceed over the crossing until it was known to be clear. The

interlocking system took the decision out of the hands of the locomotive engineer and placed it with a towerman at the

levers of a foolproof machine. Saxby in 1867 introduced in England a satisfactory “preliminary latch locking” mechanism suitable for the safe and accident-proof control of switches and signals. Old Colony‟s 1885 Medfield Jct installation of a Saxby and Farmer interlocking predates Droege‟s claim that the first S&F machines installed on a commercial basis in the U. S. were on New York City‟s Manhattan Elevated Lines in 1887-8 (Droege 1916: 46, 48).

19. Mansfield News 9 Sep. 1887.

20. Mansfield News 23 Sep. 1887.

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39 – Old Colony courts the Boston and Providence

Charles T. Corey, the well-known and respected Mansfield station agent in the 1950s, owned a copy

of an anonymous poem that gives us a dismal picture of how travelers regarded that town's depot 70

years before:

Our Depot

Of all the spots along our shore

A traveler may chance to make

To while away an hour or more

The Mansfield depot takes the cake.

Not e'en the catacombs of Rome,

Or any place which tourists see,

As o'er the earth‟s domain they roam, Impresses quite so dolefully.

Dingy and dismal and so dark

No pictures, paper or a book,

The lights not much above a spark,

Nothing to see where'er you look.

No need to sentence prisoners now

To close confinement by the state,

A better way I tell you how

In Mansfield depot make them wait.[1]

If Mansfield's doleful depot, despite the attentions of the agreeable agents Fred and Ed Paine, was

this bad in 1887, imagine what a horror show it had become by Charles Corey‟s time! Sadly, its patrons would have to wait another 65 years before the antiquated structure was demolished, and

649

then it was replaced only by a small "temporary" makeshift that by 2003 had endured 48 years.

Dismal depots or no, work on the new switch and signal control arrangement at the Mansfield

junction continued to move along:

Considerable work has been done in preparation for the interlocking switches, which it is hoped will be

in running order soon. The old signal tower near L. R. King & Son‟s stable, has been torn down, as has also the large signals [sic], together with their supports, all of which have been old landmarks in

Mansfield.[2]

A week later, several prominent officials of Boston and Providence and the Old Colony were

seen in Mansfield looking over the new project.[3]

A new railroad, which when completed would serve as a feeder for Boston and Providence, was

being built to connect the track from Attleborough to Attleboro Falls with the railroad in Walpole. By

October 1887 construction trains had reached Plainville. "We can see them between our house and

Grandpa's house," reported Abbie Miles of Plainville in a letter to Hepsibah Stearns of East

Mansfield on 18 October. "The cars bring sleepers, rails, and soon the granite will come."[4]

“A handsome new engine with the name of „Stoughton‟ upon its sides, has just been put on the

road by the Boston and Providence Company,” notes the Mansfield editor in October. At about the same time the platform on the Old Colony (east) side of Mansfield depot was widened to

accommodate the new track arrangement.[5]

In that same month a new spate of rumors of an impending Old Colony Railroad takeover of

Boston and Providence reached the ears of people dwelling along the latter route. For some, these

tales came as good news, for others not. Canton folks in particular worried about the negative effect

the change, if it occurred, might have on their town. A local manufacturer in a letter to the Boston

Advertiser deplored the idea because, in his opinion, Old Colony had proved itself inferior to Boston

and Providence in every department.[6] However, in Mansfield, already a well-oiled working

junction with Old Colony, people felt that the latter was a better-run and more up-to-date road and

that the rumored takeover would be an improvement.[7]

The older road seems to have committed itself to one final splurge in bettering its elderly property.

In October they made some much-needed repairs to the great stone bridge over Forge Pond in

Canton by topping it with a foot of portland cement.[8]

It was reported that the cost of the new switch and signal arrangement at Mansfield would be

$20,000. The job was being done by Union Switch & Signal Company of Pittsburgh. But then, in

November, all work on the proposed interlocking was suspended, pending changes in the tracks and

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switches and the construction of a connecting wye track from the Boston and Providence main line

north of the car house to the Old Colony yard, for interchange of freight cars; this was expected to

save much of the switching previously done in front of the depot.[9]

The beginning of the end for Boston and Providence was reported in the Mansfield paper:

At a meeting of the stockholders of the Boston and Providence railroad held in Boston last Wednesday,

it was voted by a very large majority to sanction the action of the directors of the road to make a lease

for 99 years to the Old Colony Company. If the lease is consummated the stockholders are guaranteed

10 per cent. on their stock, and a bonus of $1,300,000, which will be little more than $32 per share.

From inquiries made along the lines of the two roads, it would appear that the people are nearly equally

divided as to the advantages to the travelling public. That it will be of decided advantage to Mansfield is

apparent, as more trains will probably be run through the town. The Taunton Gazette says: “There will doubtless be another track put through to Mansfield in the Spring, and then the main business from

Bristol county, both passengers and freight, will go over the B. & P. Division into Boston.”[10]

The Canton newspaper reported essentially the same news, with the added comments that:

The old Board of Directors were unanimously reelected. By this railroad transaction, the railroad men

tell us that the two roads will be connected by the Stoughton Branch, thus opening a way of travel for

Canton people to Brockton, Easton, and other places. Our businessmen expect that the freight rates will

be advanced.[11]

As a starter, on 28 November the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad passed into the hands

of the Old Colony corporation.

At about the same time the freight business of Boston and Providence at Mansfield was

transferred to the new large Old Colony freight house and an office was being fitted out for freight

agent A. B. Day.

Railroad men have a traditional belief that accidents occur in groups of three. Whether true or not,

the threesome, which began with the Bussey bridge calamity and the Forest Hills flying switch

miscalculation, came to pass on 29 November in the form of a collision on the Boston and

Providence main line just south of West Mansfield station. A 40-car Saturday night freight broke in

two just before 9 p. m., the rear part of the train coming to a stop on the southbound track. Before the

crew of a following coal train could be notified, their engine struck the caboose of the stopped

freight. Fortunately, the coal train was moving slowly and the wreckage was not heavy, though

651

considerable delay to other trains resulted. The coal engine was damaged, the rear freight car of the

stopped train was “pretty well smashed” and ten coal dump cars and a boxcar were derailed, blocking both tracks. The southbound “Shore Line” mail train under Conductor Ambrose and the regular Boston-to-Providence passenger train due in the latter city at 10 p. m. were held at Mansfield

depot, where Fred Paine, true to his duty, made great efforts to feed the delayed passengers. The mail

train got on the move at 4:15 Sunday morning and arrived at Providence at 5:07, four hours and 27

minutes late.[12]

The Mansfield News, perhaps pleased to print word of a far lesser accident than collapsed bridges

and freight train smash-ups, came out with a homey bit about a derailment in that town:

The locomotive William Robeson, that left the rails on Wednesday evening of last week near the depot,

carries a cat to and fro. Puss has not missed a trip in seven months past. The night of the accident she

was the least concerned of any at the cat-astrophe, and during the six or seven hours the railroad men

were righting things she seemed quite contented in her warm quarters in the cab.[13]

Union of Boston and Providence with Old Colony was coming like an irresistible force, and the

Mansfield News of 9 December 1887 carries the following long article, which sums up almost

everything one would wish to know about Old Colony operations and the rationale behind them.

At the annual meeting of the Old Colony railroad in Boston recently, President Choate addressed the

meeting on the subject of the proposed lease of the Boston and Providence Railroad, outlining the

policy of the roads when consolidated. The B. & P. management in their successful endeavors to bring

the road to its present high state of efficiency, have done everything possible for the towns along the

line, and it is not strange that Superintendent Folsom and his associates have endeared themselves to the

patrons of the road, nor that the latter are inclined to let well enough alone. The address of President

Choate is a calm convincing argument in favor of consolidation, and we believe that not only the

efficiency of the road will be increased, but that the public welfare will be enhanced by the union. We

make the following extracts from the address:

“The committee of the directors of the Old Colony railroad have met a committee of the directors of

the Boston & Providence railroad, and they have agreed upon the terms which they will respectively

submit to their stockholders. Substantially the lease is to be to pay 10 per cent. dividend, to pay in

money the sum of $1,300,000 – it is equal to paying 11 per cent. We know that it is a very high price to

pay for the property, but we also know that the property in itself is a very valuable one, and, particularly

valuable in this connection, in its connection with the Old Colony railroad. It completes and builds out

the system of the Old Colony railroad in the southern part of Massachusetts. If you will look along the

652

line of the map and see how the roads intersect each other [several illegible words] obvious it is to

anyone that the two properties should come together, and then when these two properties have been put

together they will be more valuable to any one than they would be separate

“Our connections with the Boston & Providence railroad are far more important than they are with

any other corporation. In my opinion the connections between the Old Colony and the Boston &

Providence are more intimate than are the connections of any other two railroad corporations in the

State of Massachusetts. For instance, the business in the whole of the southern part of the State, except

that of Fall River, has to reach Providence, and there is further business between the cities of Taunton,

New Bedford, the Cape and Martha‟s Vineyard. All this business passes over our line as far as

Attleboro, and then goes over the Boston & Providence railroad to the city of Providence. The business

between Taunton and Providence is done today by alternating trains. We furnish a train which runs with

its own locomotive between Taunton and Providence, and the Boston & Providence furnishes a train

which runs with its own locomotive between Attleboro and Taunton. There is considerable business

between Taunton, New Bedford, Fall River and several points which come up to Mansfield. I suppose

that in regard to the arrangement of trains, while we have not had the ownership of the Providence road,

the arrangement has been such that we do not encourage business to go that way. We permit it to go that

way if it is desired, but the ordinary business of New Bedford and Taunton is now done on the lines of

the Old Colony railroad. In addition, there is a large business that comes from the Boston & Providence

line at Mansfield, coming from Fitchburg and Lowell. That business is very large. A large proportion of

the northern business of Providence comes in by that line, and a very considerable portion of the New

York business of the Providence line of steamers is furnished by the Old Colony railroad at Mansfield.

The desirability of putting the two roads together must be manifest to anybody.

“We believe that various things can be done for the development of the business. There are opportunities for two or three magnificent circuit roads. We can run trains [two illegible words] through

Mansfield, through Taunton and back on our own line. There is another circuit by way of the Stoughton

branch and over our new branch through West Bridgewater and then by way of Brockton or by way of

Abington.

“There are many ways in which the business of the road can be developed very greatly to the

advantage of the public, and we hope also to the advantage of the stockholders.

“I have seen all sorts of suggestions to the effect, for example, that we mean to choke off certain business. Now we do not mean to do anything of the kind. We pay a high price for the property, and we

do it with the perfect understanding that the only way we can get it to pay is to encourage all the

business we can. We do not mean to have any business diverted from that line if we can help it. But

there are other suggestions. I understand that a portion of the suburbs and the public are greatly

exercised over the belief that those who come into the Old Colony station and prefer it are to be

changed to the Boston & Providence station, and that those who come in at the Boston & Providence

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station are to be diverted to the Old Colony station. While the directors so far have formed no plans,

they have too much sense for any scheme like that. We do not believe in any violent diversion of

business or any carrying of people where they do not want to go. I can very well suppose that people

who live in the suburbs of Boston and have established their homes on the various lines of railroad,

have generally taken the line which they preferred, and the one object which they have in view is to be

brought into that part of the city to which they prefer to come. Now our principle in running a railroad

has been to do the business in the way in which it would best serve the public and in the way in which

the public whom we serve want that business done, and we propose to continue our business in the

same way, and that those people who live on the line of the Providence railroad and desire to retain that

line shall come where they want to come and that those who desire to have the Old Colony entrance

into Boston shall retain that. I have no doubt that to a certain extent there will be increased trains

running into the Boston & Providence station. The business of the public can be served, I believe, by

some of the circuit lines I have spoken of. They can also be served by making a portion of the trains

from Newport, Fall River, Taunton, New Bedford and the Cape reach Boston by the Boston &

Providence station. At any rate we shall try it and see if enough people come that way to warrant the

running of the trains, and if they do we shall run them in that way.

“It has been said that the Mansfield & Framingham road is unprofitable. In my judgment it is one of the best pieces of property you have got. The movement of freight cars over that road is greater than it

is through the Hoosac tunnel. Of course it is mainly a freight road and has comparatively little

passenger business, but it is the main stem which connects the whole of the Old Colony system with the

various western points, and is thus a very valuable branch.

“The railroad is the cheapest property in its construction in the State. The average cost of a mile of railroad, as shown by the commissioners‟ report last year, including the equipment and property, in the

State of Massachusetts is $66,000. The average of seven railroads which terminate in the city of Boston,

per mile, was $89,000. The cost of the Old Colony railroad, including about $2000 per mile for outside

property – and our steamboat property is very valuable – is $48,000, about one-half the average cost of

the railroads terminating in Boston. The cost of the Eastern per mile is put down at $160,000; of the

New York & New England, $113,000; the Boston & Lowell, $101,000; the Boston & Albany, $99,000;

the Boston & Maine, $97,000; the Fitchburg, $72,000; and the Old Colony, $48,000. One point more is

brought up and made a great handle of. They say that fares are higher on the Old Colony than on any

other line. They quote the railroad commissioners in regard to the local freights of the Old Colony. I

want to say this, that the most practiced expert is wholly incompetent, without very careful examination

of the whole of the facts, to compare freight rates on different railroads. There are no two places that do

the same kind of business, and no two roads that do it in the same way. In the first place, the Old

Colony road has no through freight, with the exception of New York business. It is practically a local

road. It is a distributing road, distributing for other railroads, and distributing from points on the coast to

654

points inland.

“Now as to the fares on the Old Colony, it is said that they are higher than on the other road. In regard to passenger business we are working in exactly the same way. Take the roads terminating in

Boston, and you will see that we are all doing the same business – bringing passengers into Boston.

There is here not that difference in the character of the business which we find on the different roads in

the carrying of freight, and I have no doubt that in the passenger business an exact comparison can be

made. Now I think you will be surprised if I tell you, after all the talk that has been indulged in, that the

average rates of fares on the Old Colony lines, as reported by the railroad commissioners, are much the

lowest in the State. There is no road in the State that favorably compares in fares with the Old Colony.

They are 10 per cent. less than the fares on the Boston & Providence, and nearly 10 per cent. less than

those on the Boston & Albany. The only fares that come near them are those of the Fitchburg. The

commissioners give the figures in their report of last year, 1885 and 1886. The average rate per mile on

the different roads was as follows: on the Boston & Albany, 1.85-100 cents; Boston & Maine, 1.80-100

cents; Boston & Providence, 1.87-100 cents; Old Colony, 1.90-100 cents;[14] Boston & Lowell, 2.6-

100 cents; Fitchburg, 1.75-100 cents; New York & New England, 2.2-100 cents; Connecticut River,

2.42-100 cents; New York & New Haven, 1.92-100 cents; Providence & Worcester, 2.10-100 cents. I

know you can‟t always rely upon those figures, but you can examine them for yourselves, and I think you will find the Old Colony figures are correct. This shows that our passenger tariff is as favorable for

business as that of any other road.

“If this lease is carried out it will be the purpose of the Old Colony road to carry it out in accordance with the plan which they have always had in the various consolidations. The Old Colony railroad

represents upwards of 20 corporations. These consolidations have been going on now for a good many

years. It is about 15 years ago that the Old Colony began to pick up and bring together various

corporations and railroads which occupied that part of the State. There have been a good many times

when objections were made to the consolidations before they were made. I believe there never was an

instance where, after a consolidation of any roads with the Old Colony system has been effected

complaints have been made. I believe that the result has been beneficial to our stockholders and to the

public. The cardinal principle of the Old Colony directors has been this, that the interest of a railroad

corporation and that of people whom it serves are identical and that nothing can benefit the one without

bringing benefit to the other. I have no doubt that the same principle will be carried out in the

arrangement with the Boston & Providence railroad and that the lease will be of benefit to all

concerned, to the people and to the stockholders.

A later favorable comment on the same subject appeared in a Middleboro, Mass., newspaper:

655

One who was present thinks the presentation of the case of the Old Colony and Boston and Providence

railroads in relation to the lease of the latter before the legislative railway committee was a model of

clearness, directness and business form. It was not only pleasing but instructive, showing the excellent

system by which the Old Colony is controlled and the advantage of this same system as applied to the

B. & P. in connection with the Old Colony. President Choate of the Old Colony said the more the

consolidation was investigated the more it appeared to be in the public interest. The Old Colony must

spend a million in depot facilities in Boston unless it can have the Providence road. It spends $150,000

for pier accommodations in New York, and must have more room. Within five years it has bought

$800,000 worth of land for freight use in Boston, and will put $250,000 into shops in Braintree. The

$1,300,000 will be paid from savings in the management. He had no fear of an investigation.[15]

For all intents and purposes, the lease of the venerable Boston and Providence by Old Colony

appears at this stage to have been a done deal, awaiting only final approval by the state.

The Old Colony in December 1887 declared a dividend of $3.50 a share, payable on 2 January. It

was also announced that the new Mansfield signal tower was to be enlarged by the addition of eight

feet in length. A new long Old Colony side track extending from the passenger station to East Street

in Mansfield was to be relaid with steel rails and used as a second main track. Delay in completing

the work had been caused by a strike among steel workers in Worcester.[16]

Late in 1887 the Mansfield News began running a useful column under the heading “Railroad Notes.” While not as thorough as the previous column written by “Freight” it serves to keep us up to date on happenings at Mansfield.

One of its first items tells us, in relation to the new double track (which before long was to be

extended) on the Old Colony, that

A signal mast for the government of trains has been erected at East street, the junction of the double

track, and the flagman‟s cabin has been moved to the other side of the track.. A. H. Coburn takes the place of Bertie Snow as day watchman, and Winslow Eager of Fall River will be the night signalman at

this place. Bertie Snow takes the Chauncy street crossing.

We also are reminded that even experienced railroad men can forget the safety rules.

656

F. M. Sergeant, road-master Northern division O. C., met with a painful accident Wednesday morning.

While standing on the track near the B. & P. freight house, an engine backed up a dump car on the same

track and before he could be apprised of his danger he was struck on the back by the dump and thrown

to the ground, most fortunately off the track. His face was cut badly and he was bruised about the

shoulders. Dr. Allen attended the wounded man, making him comfortable as possible. It was a narrow

escape from instant death.

The same issue of the paper informs us that the old Boston and Providence freight house “has been set back several feet to allow the laying of the new track, which will be run to Bellew‟s [North Main Street] crossing. The laying of the track will also necessitate the removal of the house occupied

by flagman [James] Bellew.”

In addition, “A. B. Day, who has been for almost 20 years the efficient freight agent for the B. &

P. railroad at Mansfield, will soon give up his position and retire from rail-roading. . . . Wm. N.

Moran will fill the position.”[17]

Intent on going out with a bang instead of a whimper, Boston and Providence in its last full year

of independent existence added five new locomotives to its roster, in two cases employing numbers

that had been given previously to other engines that were retired. Two were tank engines evidently

intended for short-run commuter turns.

Acquired by Boston and Providence in 1887 were:

Second 10, Wm. Merrill, 0-4-6T, cylinders 17 by 20 inches, drivers 54 inches, built by Rhode

Island Locomotive Works (construction no. 1740).

Second 26, Squantum, 0-4-4T, cylinders 16 by 20 inches, driver 54 inches, was a so-called

"Forney" type engine in which the drive wheels were mounted in a rigid frame under the boiler, but

the tender, in the form of an abbreviated tank, was carried on a four-wheel swiveling truck.

Squantum had been built in 1885 by Taunton (construction number 916) for Providence, Warren and

Bristol as their number 4. Perhaps because it had trouble negotiating the road's back-breaking 211-

foot-radius curve just outside Providence, the Bristol company found it unsatisfactory and sold it to

Boston and Providence, probably in 1887 when they purchased another number 4 to replace it.[18]

Second 40, John H. Clifford, 4-4-0, cylinders 16 by 24, drivers 66, Rhode Island (number 1821).

61, C. H. Warren, 0-4-6T, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 54, Rhode Island (number 1778).

62, Stoughton (the second of that name), already mentioned when it was placed in service in

October, a 4-4-0, cylinders 18 by 24, drivers 60, weight 91,850 pounds, the second and last engine

built for Boston and Providence by Hinkley (number 1707).

63, Henry W. Dale, 4-4-0, cylinders 17 by 24, drivers 66, Rhode Island (number 1887).[19]

657

Boston and Providence also retired one engine in 1887 and sold another. First number 10, New

York (the second of that name), built by Griggs in 1854, was put out to pasture.[20] And the original

Stoughton, number 40, built by Rhode Island in 1872, was sold in 1887.[21]

At Mansfield, a new platform for the passenger depot was to be sheltered by a wooden awning.

For the accommodation of local freight, a special office was fitted up on the lower floor of the large

Old Colony freight house; at the end of the first week in 1888 this was complete except for painting.

The freight agent‟s office, the telegraph and the car record offices remained upstairs as formerly.[22]

The building used at Mansfield as a tool and car house near Bellew‟s crossing was moved across the Boston and Providence tracks to a position near the roundhouse. To avoid obstructing train

traffic, the work was done on Sunday, 10 January. Four switches on the Old Colony south of the

depot were now operated from the gateman‟s cabin. Accidents continued to occur, the following probably witnessed by my grandfather.

On Wednesday as some coal-dumps were brought to a sudden stop near the end of the “mountain track” opposite the O. C. freight house, the perch [sic] connected with a coupling gave way, separating half a

dozen loaded dumps from the train. These gaining headway from a descending grade rushed along a

short distance and piled up in confusion, scattering their contents and considerably, but not seriously,

damaging themselves. Nobody was hurt. A wrecking train yesterday went to the scene of the accident.

The Mansfield paper keeps us informed on the new interlocking:

The system of railroad signals in process of construction at the depot here, will be the largest work of

the kind, with two exceptions, in the United States. It is known as the Interlocking system and has

replaced all others in England, and other countries, with an increasing business here, last year‟s orders being equal to those of five years previous. The company represented by Mr. Vernon is the Union

Switch and Signal Co., of Swissvale, Pa. The work here cannot be completed for some time, but a

sketch of the general design of the intended improvements will prepare anyone interested in such

matters, to appreciate future descriptions of the completed work. The object in view is to enable trains

to be switched on to any required track without any possible danger of collision; and an examination of

the means to be employed gives good assurance that the desired end will be accomplished. When the

arrangements are completed the opening of any one track completely bars out the passing of cars along

any other, till the moving train is quite out of danger, and the switches changed. Let us observe what

takes place as a train approaches a crossing where this system is in operation. At a distance of more than

half a mile from the home signal, a cautionary signal indicates either that all is clear ahead, or

658

otherwise; if the latter is the case the moving train is to slacken speed and proceed cautiously till the

home signal is reached. If at this the signal is to go forward a higher rate of speed can be resumed, and

the train passes safely through the system of switches to its destination. To attempt this when the home

signal is not placed to go on, means, not collision, but derailment; for, fifty feet or so from the home

signal, is a derailing switch which leads any train but the one which should pass into direct contact with

mother earth. The blame will rest on the guilty party for “the apparatus can‟t lie,” and no train can get into such a position but by the act of those on board. There will be no quarrelling as to which train shall

go forward, nor can an accident arise from the misplacing of a switch under this system, for the

numerous targets heretofore used will be replaced by a main one, indicating by a number the train for

which the switches are set. The combination of locks and switches, secures this result, as before

indicated, that all trains but the right one are left the alternative of properly awaiting their turn or being

derailed as before described. Where crossings are not visible from the main signal tower, subordinate

stations are erected so connected with the main one as to be all under its control, as the subordinate

keepers can only ask for change, but cannot make any required changes. The same care and

completeness are evident in the machinery employed. At each switch, a solid foundation or fulcrum is

sunk into the earth below the reach of frost. This part of the work is now proceeding slowly, owing to

the frozen state of the ground. The whole set of levers proposed to be used at this crossing will be 76 in

number, though it is probable a commencement will be made with a smaller number. The handles in the

signal tower, will be distinguished from each other by being painted in different colors, and will work

all the signals, locks and switches. The applied force is transmitted to the switches along hollow iron

rods, whose expansion or contraction from changes of temperature, is counteracted by a simple and

interesting compensating arrangement, placed midway of their length. The signals are connected by

wires whose expansion is controlled by a different but equally effective method.[23]

A week after printing the above, the Mansfield editor notes that the ground near the junction was

frozen so deeply (local temperatures had fallen as low as minus 12 F.) that further switch and signal

work would be put off until spring.

659

In late January 1888 a new turntable arrived (none too soon, as it was to turn out) in Mansfield

from W. Sellers in Philadelphia to replace the existing table, which was found to be too light.[24]

A near accident was averted on Old Colony trackage in Mansfield on the first day of February:

The freight train for this section was drawing out of the Mansfield yard Wednesday afternoon, about an

hour behind time, when the rails spread behind the last car, and threatened the derailment of another

train in the rear which was coming up slowly. Warning was given and as roadmaster Bryant happened to

be on hand with a gang of men, the rails were drawn in and securely spiked in position. Luckily the

situation was discovered in time.[25]

This was followed two days later by a fairly sensational mishap to the train from Taunton, due in

Mansfield at 6:30 a. m. North of Norton one of the side rods broke, and flailing around, smashed the

cab and otherwise damaged the engine, apparently without injury to the crew. The train‟s flagman stopped a following train from Fall River which shoved the disabled train ahead of it to

Mansfield.[26]

The anonymous writer of “Railroad Notes” in the Mansfield newspaper of 10 February hints at something that sounds like a stove-equipped caboose designed to make the life of a local freight

crew more comfortable in below-zero temperatures:

A very good idea has been applied on the Boston and Providence R. R. commencing with this week. A

heated car is attached to the way freight train every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, stopping at

Sharon, East Foxboro, Mansfield, West Mansfield, Attleboro, Pawtucket and Providence.

Minor mishaps continued to occur, and in the same paper the writer added that the wrecking train

was called to rerail a passenger car that had jumped the track at Mansfield depot and managed in so

doing to delay other trains.

On 24 February, “Railroad Notes” comments on the progress of two new features at Mansfield:

Surveyors are at work on the proposed “Y” which is to connect the O. C. R. R. at the freight depot, with both the main and side tracks north of the B. and P. car house. This will considerably facilitate

delivery of freight.

The new machine for the operation of the switches and signals at Mansfield is on the way from the

shops of the Union Switch & Signal Co. at Swissvale, Pa. The machine weighs 30,000 pounds. Eighty-

seven signal lamps will be required for the system.[27]

660

At about this same time, the Taunton paper noted:

It is understood that the section of the Old Colony railroad from Attleboro Junction to Mansfield is the

next one to be double-tracked. About as many trains are now run on the single track as can be, and a

large number of the New Bedford and Fall River trains will take the route to Boston. The rails are

already at Mansfield.[28]

Work on laying this double track between Mansfield and the junction north of Taunton began

Monday, 16 April, and it was expected that the new system of signals at Mansfield would be placed

in operation Sunday, 22 April.[29]

NOTES

1. Copeland 1931f, reprinted in Mansfield News 26 Jan. 1951, with the word “domain” omitted in the seventh line.

I found the original in Mansfield News 30 Sep. 1887, with the signature “R.” and the note that it was written by a man who had to wait an hour in the depot. If the comment pertaining to passenger stations in Droege (1916-69: 208) is true,

that "It is a well-known fact that employees are more pleasant and cheerful while working amid agreeable surroundings,"

there must have been some grumpy people in the doleful dump of Mansfield depot. The Paines, however, from all

accounts seem to have maintained their good nature.

2. Mansfield News 7 Oct. 1887. The “old signal tower” may refer to the “commodious building for the use of the switch-tender” built at the junction in 1885. 3. Mansfield News 14 Oct. 1887.

4. Buck c1980: v. 5, p. 1289.

5. Mansfield News 21 Oct. 1887.

6. Canton Journal 18 Nov. 1887 in Galvin 1987: 16.

7. Mansfield News, date unknown.

8. Canton Journal 21 Oct. 1887 in Galvin 1987: 16.

9. Mansfield News 4 and 11 Nov. 1887. This halt in the work may have been occasioned by the realization that the

proposed 40-lever, 34-foot-long interlocking tower was inadequate to handle the complex trackage resulting from a

contemplated corporate joining of the two railroads. Union Switch & Signal Co. was situated in Swissvale, Pa.

10. Mansfield News 25 Nov. 1887.

11. Canton Journal 18 Nov. 1887 in Galvin 1987: 16. The Dedham Transcript of 5 and 19 Nov. 1887 also reported

that Boston & Providence was to be leased to Old Colony for 99 years.

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12. Two items Mansfield News 2 Dec. 1887.

13. Mansfield News 9 Dec. 1887. The derailed engine was second No. 2, William R. Robeson. Whether this

anthracite-burner was still pulling the “Shore Line Express” is not stated. I wish the editor had told us Puss‟s name! 14. Choate‟s passenger fares, as quoted in the Mansfield News, do not bear out his claim that O. C. fares were less than those of B. & A. and B. & P. I cannot account for this discrepancy.

15. Middleboro News, reprinted in Mansfield News 3 Feb. 1888.

16. Mansfield News 9 Dec. 1887.

17. Mansfield News 23 Dec. 1887.

18. Swanberg 1988: 79.

19. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 83, 84. Galvin 1987: 17 has an 1887 photo of Stoughton from the R&LHS collection; see

also Humphrey and Clark 1985: 9 for photo of Henry W. Dale. Swanberg 1988: 74 has a photo of former Boston &

Providence no. 63 as New Haven no. 816. Note that B&P had standardized on a 24-inch piston stroke for its locomotives

regardless of drive wheel diameter.

20. Edson 1981: xvii.

21. Following is the Boston & Providence locomotive roster at the end of its last full year of independent operation

(1887):

Second 1, T. P. I. Goddard; second 2, William R. Robeson; second 3, Thomas B. Wales, second 4, Henry A.

Whitney; second 5, third Providence; second 6, Geo. R. Minot; second 7, George R. Russell; second 8, W. Raymond

Lee; 9, Washington; second 10, Wm. Merrill; second 11, Henry Dalton; second 12, Benjamin B. Torrey (the Bussey

Bridge engine); second 13, Jos. W. Balch; second 14, James Daily; 15, second Roxbury; 16, third Dedham; 17, Daniel

Nason; second 18, Arnold Green; 19, Commonwealth; second 20, Royal C. Taft; 21, A. A. Folsom; second 22, second

Readville; 23. W. H. Morrell; second 24, C. H. Wheeler; second 25, David B. Standish; second 26, Squantum; 27,

David Tyler; second 28, R. H. Stevenson; 29, Paul Revere; 30, second G. S. Griggs; 31, John Winthrop; 32, Pegasus

(ex-Gov. Clifford); 33, Roger Williams; 34, Pancks; 35, William G. McNeill; 36, Sam Weller; 37, B. R. Nichols; 38,

John Lightner; 39, W. W. Woolsey; second 40, John H. Clifford; 41, Mark Tapley; 42, Micawber; 43, George Richards;

44, Moses B. Ives; 45, Viaduct; 46, J. H. Wolcott; 47, Thomas Motley; 48, D. L. Davis; 49, Henry A. Chase; 50, Isaiah

Hoyt; 51, H. F. Barrows; 52, Abner Alden; 53, Moses Boyd; 54, Jack Bunsby; 55, Jos. Grinnell; 56, Wm. Appleton;

57, Fred Paine; 58, Roger Wolcott; 59, W. G. Russell; 60, Winslow Warren; 61, C. H. Warren; 62, second Stoughton;

63, Henry W. Dale; and the three unnumbered engines Iron Clad; Useful; and Utility. Missing engines in numbering

sequence: none. Total engines: 66, again, seemingly a large number for a small railroad.

22. Mansfield News 6 Jan. 1888.

23. Mansfield News 15 Jan. 1888. The interlocking system, which before long came into use, with variations, at

every important junction or set of main line switches throughout the U. S., was not proof against human error, with the

exception of the derails, which were apt to penalize human error by causing a worse accident than they prevented. Over a

period of decades the use of derails on main line tracks decreased for that reason, though generally they remained in

service in critical locations such as the approaches to movable bridges. Even then they did not infallibly stop a train

whose engineer overran a stop signal; a derailed train sometimes will roll a considerable distance with its wheels on the

ties, and certain types of derails (the Hayes and the Q. & C. derail mounted atop the rail), if not spiked solidly or if the

ties are rotted, can be pushed aside by the wheels of a locomotive, as I have seen personally. The “interlocking” feature occurs inside the tower in the form of an ingenious “locking bed” in which crisscrossing notched rods attached to the

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levers engage or disengage one another, permitting or preventing the lever being thrown; interlocking is now

accomplished electrically. The use of numbered targets to indicate train numbers proved not useful and was given up in a

relatively short time. “Locks” refers to a bolt-like plunger arrangement by which the switches were locked in position at

the outdoor site; first, the towerman unlocked the switch, using a separate lever, then the switch was thrown, and finally

relocked. The bolt lock prevented switch points from being incompletely closed or from opening as a result of jarring or

loose connections. The “hollow iron rods” were called pipe lines and were an inch in diameter; they moved atop rollers on “carriers” mounted 8 feet apart along the ground. The wires used to control signals were not carriers of electricity but

were used as mechanical controls. Counterweights were used to keep the signal blades in their normal “stop” positions. Levers in the tower were painted black for switches, blue for bolt locks, red for home signals and yellow for distant

signals. The towerman‟s job was aided by a “manipulation chart” posted on the wall which indicated to him the sequence in which various levers must be thrown. The “compensating arrangement” was called a compensator, and was usually of the “lazy jack” or “W” form. 24. Mansfield News 27 Jan. 1888.

25. Taunton Gazette in Mansfield News 3 Feb. 1888.

26. Mansfield News 3 Feb. 1888.

27. Mansfield News 24 Feb. 1888. “Y” is now commonly spelled “wye.” This new track might have come in handy when Mansfield turntable broke less than two months later, though it appears not to have been completed by then.

28. Taunton Gazette in Mansfield News 24 Feb. 1888.

29. Mansfield News 20 Apr. 1888.

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40 – “The B. & P. R. R. is no more”

Just as the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was to expire in 1969 with a fearsome 42-

car fast freight train wreck in the rock cut just “east” (north) of Canton Junction, the Boston and Providence's lights were figuratively blown out by the famed “Blizzard of '88.”

This horrific snowstorm for a time, at least, took peoples' minds off train wrecks and the

impending merger. Monday mornings were becoming bad scenes for the Boston and Providence, and

this worst snow storm in decades was a respecter of tradition: it struck early on Monday, 12 March,

the day of the new moon. An Attleboro historian tells how it affected the railroad:

Blinding snow lashed by a 50-mile gale swirled snow into drifts while changing temperatures

sprinkled rain that later froze the drifts into walls of ice. Telegraph poles leaned crazily and wires

snapped. Communication was cut off and dispatchers lost track of stalled trains.

The storm struck Boston about 7 a.m. and within a few hours changing temperatures had packed

drifts as hard as a rock. New York was completely cut off and faced a food famine as the storm

progressed. An express train started from Boston to New York at 11 p.m. Sunday with 125

passengers. The train returned to Boston at 9:30 Tuesday night, having been unable to proceed west

of New London. Its mail was sent by the Sound boats after a delay of two days.[1]

Three days prior to the arrival of the blizzard the author of “Railroad Notes” in the Mansfield

News observed that workmen were “blasting the top of the ledge near the round-house, in order that

engineers approaching from the north may obtain a better view of the new signals.” He also noted that, “Within a few days, 1,000 tons of locomotive coal has [sic] been unloaded at Mansfield. About

7,000 tons is [sic] required annually for engines coaling at this station.” A railroad turntable serves not only to turn engines end for end but acts as the one entrance and

exit to the individual stalls in the roundhouse. Thus it was a serious and potentially crippling

problem that developed with Mansfield‟s turntable on 10 April:

On Tuesday afternoon,, while a heavy engine was on the turn-table at the O. C. R. R. engine house, a

knee-bolt which held the iron casting of the turn-table gave way with an explosion like a pistol shot,

664

allowing the casting to settle on the foundation and bring the turn-table to a standstill. Thirty or forty

men with crowbars were required to turn the table sufficiently to get the engine off, but the nature of the

accident could not be discovered till a considerable portion of the turn-table had been torn up. It will

probably require a week to repair the damages. Meanwhile the engines which would be turned, are

switched to the proper end of the train. Thus no delay has occurred, though it causes some

inconvenience to the company. The new turn-table will soon replace the present one, and a proposed Y

will enable the trains to continue without interruption until the work is completed. [2]

In 1888, but just before the Old Colony takeover, Boston and Providence got itself three new

engines and retired or scrapped an older machine.

One of the new locomotives was Robert Keayne,[3] given the odd number 1638 which, when I

first saw it in print, I thought must be a typographical error. Charles Fisher explains this strange

circumstance:

A curious instance was the naming of the Robert Keayne. This locomotive came to the Old Colony

with others when the Boston and Providence Railroad was leased, and numbered 1638. The road did

not have more than fifty locomotives at this time but the superintendent was a most enthusiastic

member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston and the earliest commander of

the corps was Keayne, and the year 1638, hence the number.

My assumption is that Keayne was ordered by Boston and Providence just before the lease but was

delivered to Old Colony. It was built by Rhode Island Locomotive Works (construction number

1977), a 4-4-0 with 18 by 24 cylinders and 66-inch drive wheels.[4]

The other locomotives acquired by Boston and Providence as a last gasp were second 9, Susan

Nipper, the sixth and final 0-4-0 switcher named for a Dickens character, cylinders 15 by 24, drivers

48, built by Rhode Island (construction number 1976); and 64, J. O. Yatman, another 4-4-0 with 17

by 24 cylinders and 66-inch drive wheels, Rhode Island number 1888 (by coincidence the same as

the year).[5] J. O. Yatman was the last locomotive built for and received by the Boston and

Providence Rail Road Corporation.

First number 9, Washington, an oldie turned out by Griggs in 1854, lived to get into the hands of

Old Colony, which scrapped it before 1888 was up.[6]

We come now to the final paragraphs in this 60-year story of the Boston and Providence Railroad

(or Rail Road).

The editor of the Mansfield newspaper continues to keep us up to the minute on the proceedings,

665

betraying excitement in his overoptimism regarding improvements in the town‟s dismal depot and dangerous grade crossings, and a couple of wrong words and omissions:

As was expected, the bill relating to the lease of [sic – “to” was meant] the Old Colony Railroad of the

B. & P., has passed the [Massachusetts] Senate, and is ordered to be engrossed. There was quite an

interesting discussion on an amendment, which sought to confine the outlay of the Old Colony within

the narrower limits [of what?]. The friends of the bill, however, succeeded in defeating the amendment

by a large majority, and so the matter ends.

Now that the bargain is settled, we look hopefully forward to the inauguration of improved

accommodations at the depot, and the indications are that we shall not look in vain. . . .

The discussions of grade crossings came up in the Legislature, and will probably continue to arise till

all highways and railways shall cross alone [sic – “above”] or below each other.

When that time comes, the switch service will be more limited in its operation.[7]

The Old Colony Railroad Company in its time had taken over a number of lesser roads, building

its mileage to 470, but its most important and strategically significant acquisition was the leasing of

the property of the Boston and Providence Rail Road Corporation. This takeover included the

Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad, which was controlled by Boston and Providence, and the

Providence, Worcester and Boston, and resulted in a consolidation of railroad lines entering

Providence. The acquisition came in the form of a 99-year lease dated 1 April 1888. You can be sure

that Boston and Providence president Henry M. Whitney and his management team did not turn over

their property without receiving adequate remuneration. Old Colony paid $1 million in cash, a

guaranty of Boston and Providence's fixed charges and ten percent per annum dividends on the stock

of the senior railroad, which would continue to exist on paper as a separate company.[8]

There was more to this agreement than meets the eye. The powerful New York, New Haven and

Hartford, already anchored solidly in those three cities, was steadily creeping up the New England

shoreline, gobbling up lesser railroads like an approaching alligator snapping up fish that happened

to be in its way. This company wanted to extend its reach to Boston, and the best way to do that was

to acquire the Boston and Providence. But New Haven ownership of a through rail route from

Manhattan to The Hub would have jeopardized Old Colony's famous Fall River Boat Trains and the

connecting, railroad-owned steamboat lines from Fall River, New Bedford and Newport to New

York, all well-patronized rail-water routes that until now enjoyed an almost monopoly on that

intercity traffic. Baldly put, Old Colony leased Boston and Providence to protect itself from traffic

losses by blocking the New Haven from completing its Shore Line to Boston. Any railroad now

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entering its territory from the southwest could do so only on Old Colony's terms.[9]

Boston and Providence, despite a slight creakiness in its joints, and aside from its strategic

placement in linking two important state capitals, was in most ways a desirable property. Old

Colony, after the lease, moved a number of its trains, including their crack Boat Trains, from

Kneeland Street depot in Boston to Park Square Station, an ornate, up-to-date terminal built only 13

years before; while the elder road's main line being double-tracked over its entire length meant that it

had the capacity to handle a dense traffic (for the time) of fast trains. Its rail and water connections

for both freight and passengers in Providence also were of great value, especially as they represented

an important tie with New York and points south. Having Boston and Providence in its pocket, Old

Colony became, for a time at least, the number one railroad in New England.[10]

The Mansfield editor has some comments on the subject:

The vote of the stockholders of the B. & P. on a motion to sanction the lease to the Old Colony, to

authorize the direction to execute the lease and affix the seal of the corporation, and to make such acts

as may be necessary to fully carry into effect and accomplish the purposes of said lease, was taken at a

special meeting in Boston on Wednesday [11 April]. About fifty gentlemen and one lady were present.

The vote stood 26767 to 30 in favor of the motion. The majority of all the shares (20,000) being thus

exceeded, the vote is a final decision.

The B. & P. R. R. is no more. Yesterday [12 April] it became the Providence Division of the O. C. R.

R. Isaac N. Marshall is appointed Division Superintendent, in addition to his former duties.[11]

A week after the above was printed, we learn that

The engine Fred Paine, named after our accommodating station agent, took the first load of officials

over the Boston and Provision division of the O. C. R. R. . . .

The obliteration of the letters B. & P. on the rolling stock of the division has commenced and will be

replaced by the letters “O. C.” . . . The Directors of the O. C. R. R. made a tour of examination along their newly-acquired Boston and

Providence Division on Thursday.[12]

667

NOTES

1. Belcher 1938: no. 12. This blizzard met the dictionary definition of the word as it buried the Northeast from

Maryland to New England under 40 to 60 inches of snow, blown by howling winds into immense drifts, while

temperatures remained near zero F. New York city became an Arctic wasteland in which all transport was paralyzed, and

coastal shipping took a savage beating – seamen called it "the Great White Hurricane." It was estimated that from 100 to

400 persons died as a result of the storm (Rothovius 1988: 110).

2. Mansfield News 13 Apr. 1888.

3. Capt. Robert Keayne was a leading merchant and importer in 17th century Boston..

4. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 67. One is reminded of the insignificant short line which owns only four locomotives but

numbers them in the 9000s to give an impression of mightiness.

5. C. Fisher 1938b: 81, 84. Susan Nipper's engine wheelbase was 7 ft. 0 in. With a later 8-wheel tender the total

wheelbase was 32 ft. 0 in. That tender was of the sloped or ladder-back style. She was rebuilt with 51-in. drivers

(Lawrence 1977). Apparently there were no Dickens fans among the Old Colony brass collars.

6. Edson 1981: xvii. C. Fisher 1938b contains a photo of Washington.

7. Mansfield News 17 Feb. 1888.

8. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 34; Jacobs 1926 in Hall and Wuchert 1983: v. 1, p. 34-6; C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 79;

NHRAA-1940-52; NHRHTA Feb. 1971: v. 2, n. 1, p. 5; NHRTIA bull. Aug. 1971: v. 2, n. 3, p. 8; Francis in Dubiel

1974: 5; Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31, 1986: 12; C. Brown 1993: 6.; A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets

Forum 2002. C. Brown says the lease was to run 96 years. Francis gives the date as 11 April; C. Fisher (Apr. 1938: 37) as

7 April; NHRAA (1940-52/2002: 57) as 1 April, but editor Levitt adds, "The date of lease has also been

reported as April 4, 1888."

9. Weller 1969: 40; NHRTIA bull. Aug. 1971:, v. 2, n. 3, p. 8; Swanberg 1988: 36; C. Brown 1993: 4-5.

10. C. Brown 1989: 32-3.

11. Mansfield News 13 Apr. 1888. Why could not the editor have told us the name of the lone lady?

12. Mansfield News, Friday, 20 Apr. 1888.

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Chapter 41 – Under the Old Colony flag

A poster issued by Old Colony less than two weeks after the lease agreement and on the opening day

of operations under the new management explains the personnel changes involved:

Old Colony Railroad

---------

NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES

---------

GENERAL MANAGER'S OFFICE,

BOSTON, April 12, 1888

The OLD COLONY RAILROAD COMPANY having leased and taken posses-

sion of the Boston & Providence Railroad, assumes the operation of the

same on and after this date.

The Railroad from Boston to Providence, and the West Roxbury,

Dedham, Stoughton, and North Attleboro Branches, will be known as the

PROVIDENCE DIVISION;

MR. ISAAC N. MARSHALL is appointed DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT

(in addition to his duties as Superintendent of the Northern Division), with

head-quarters at the Park Square station, in Boston.

The duties of the general officers of the Old Colony Railroad will

extend over this division, and all matters relating to the Freight Depart-

ment will be addressed to MR. S. C. PUTNAM, GENERAL FREIGHT AGENT,

BOSTON; all matters relating to the Passenger Department will be addressed

to MR. GEORGE L. CONNOR, GENERAL PASSENGER AND TICKET AGENT,

BOSTON; all matters relating to the Rolling Stock Department will be ad-

dressed to MR. J. N. LAUDER, SUPERINTENDENT OF ROLLING STOCK, SOUTH

BOSTON; and all matters relating to the Maintenance of Way Department,

669

and including Bridges and Buildings, will be addressed to MR. GEORGE S.

MORRILL, CHIEF ENGINEER, BOSTON.

All construction work, including new stations and rebuilding of bridges,

now in progress, will be under the charge of MR. S. L. MINOT.

All funds collected at stations will be sent to MR. J. M. WASHBURN,

TREASURER, BOSTON, BY EARLE & PREW'S EXPRESS DAILY, except where

otherwise directed.

MR. GEORGE L. GREENE is appointed AGENT AT PROVIDENCE,

MR. GEORGE E. BLACK is appointed FREIGHT AGENT AT BOSTON.

MR. C. C. WHEELER is appointed STATION AGENT AT BOSTON

PASSENGER STATION.

J. R. KENDRICK,

General Manager.[1]

Under Old Colony control, the former Boston and Providence Rail Road became the Old Colony's

Providence Division,[2] though the Mansfield News, perhaps from habit, had twice referred to it as

the Boston and Providence Division. Many changes, most of them for the better, now were brought

about.

The lease of Boston and Providence opened new routing possibilities, and among the changes,

train service on the Mansfield to New Bedford line was increased.[3] A new locomotive whistle

warning at grade crossings, peculiar to the Old Colony but already familiar at Mansfield and

eventually adopted throughout the United States – two long and two short blasts[4] – began to be

heard along the former Providence line. The Old Colony habit of giving east- or northbound trains

even numbers in the timetable and west- or southbound trains odd numbers, a practice that survives

to this day on most American railroads, was also introduced to the former Boston and Providence.

Another old custom, that of naming steam locomotives after persons and places, which originated in

England consistent with the long-time practice of naming ships, was coming to a sad end as Old

Colony‟s no-frills locomotive superintendent J. N. Lauder commenced systematically renumbering

the engines acquired from Boston and Providence and painting out the names lettered on their

cabs.[5] In turn, these engines – those that survived – were renumbered again in 1893 when Old

Colony was taken over by New York, New Haven and Hartford, and a third time during the New

Haven's general renumbering of locomotives in 1904.

Now that the important junction at Mansfield was under the control of one management, the

installation of the impressive, enlarged 97-lever "interlocking" switch and signal tower with all its

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associated pipe and wire lines connecting the levers to switches and signals was completed.

Construction had commenced as early as October 1887, when the local paper reported:

Several of the prominent railroad officials of both the Boston and Providence and Old Colony railroad

companies are in town today on business connected with the interlocking switches which are being

put in for both lines.[6]

One week later:

A very busy scene was presented last Sunday in the vicinity of the depot, there being over one

hundred men employed in the work connected with the new interlocking switches. It is deemed

necessary to work upon Sundays, on account of the tracks being almost continually in use on other

days of the week.[7]

The new tower was opened 22 April 1888. Supervising the work, which was handled by Union

Switch and Signal Company, was John Pilkington, who had come to Mansfield from Pittsburgh. Also

"prominent in the installation of the system" was signal engineer Joseph I. Vernon, who lived at 141

Rumford Avenue (then Water Street) and later became “switching department supervisor” for the New Haven Railroad.[8] Others involved with the new tower were Peter Duguid (1866-1954), who

brought his knowledge of signals and interlocking from Scotland, and Richard Pilling.

The levers on the many-windowed second floor of the tower were mechanically interconnected in

such a way that the operator could not set up conflicting signal indications and switch positions,

making collisions within the limits of the interlocking plant almost impossible, besides which the

levers could be thrown only in a predetermined order – if, for example, the towerman wished to clear

the route for a Boston-to-Providence train, first all signals on the Framingham-Taunton route had to

be set at "stop" position, next all switches for the Providence route properly "lined," then its "home"

signals cleared, and finally the "distant" signal located at East Foxboro could be set at "clear."

Mansfield tower was said to be the first such installation in the immediate area and the third largest

interlocking plant in the United States after the one at Grand Central Depot, New York and one other

at a location unknown to me. The first operator to work the new plant was Edward S. Merrill of

Mansfield.[9] This large tower served the complex four-way junction with its "puzzle switches" for

nearly four decades until it was wrecked and burned in the collision of the New York-bound

sleeping-car train Owl with Providence-Lowell freight PL-2 the night of 23-24 May 1926 (an

accident that was not the fault of the interlocking system or the operator thereof).

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Photographs taken at Mansfield between 1888 and 1895[10] illustrate the new semaphore system

and show the movable pipe lines (covered against the weather by wooden planking that later was

removed) that ran beside the tracks on roller-bearing carriers, enabling the strong-armed towerman

by means of his levers to control signals and switches, as well as the split-point derails. Remote

signals like the East Foxboro "distant" were operated from the tower by means of wire lines also

supported on rollers.

Evident in one of the photos is the steeply conical roof, topped by a spire and pennant, of the new

large wooden water tank that into the 1940s stood west of the Boston and Providence tracks, along

with the iron water column on the east side of the Taunton Branch opposite North Common, for

filling locomotive tenders. By this time, the former unwieldy windmill used for raising water had

been replaced by a steam pump housed in a small brick building across the Providence tracks from

the station. A separate enclosed shelter almost as commodious as the boxy little depot used until

2003 at Mansfield stands east of the Taunton tracks, enabling passengers waiting for southward

trains on that line to shelter from the cold and weather.

Less than a year after Mansfieldians greeted the living General Phil Sheridan at the depot, in

August 1888:

A crowd gathered at the depot Wednesday night and watched in silence the funeral car of General

Sheridan as it passed through on the way to his last resting place with those who fought under him

during the long years of the war.[11]

A half century ahead of its time, the Old Colony introduced container flat cars on its Boat Trains

to carry the baggage of New York-bound travelers, thus avoiding the costly delays of transferring

cargo by hand from train to ship at the piers.[12] At Canton Junction in 1888 Old Colony replaced

the original Boston and Providence depot with the handsome stone structure that in 2006 is still

used,[13] though recently it was moved a short distance to make room for the new electric catenary

structures. The Canton viaduct's wooden fences were replaced in 1888 with iron girders,[14] which

perhaps are the same fences that needlessly alarmed timid recent commuters by their corroded

appearance. And the Spaulding Street pedestrian overpass, which had burned in the spring, was

rebuilt in a new location, while plans were laid to eliminate the dangerous Depot Street grade

crossing at Canton Junction station. New switches were added near the depot, the Chapman Street

bridge was to be replaced with a new iron bridge, and Old Colony began to make greater use of the

Stoughton branch as a route from Boston to Taunton and southeastern Massachusetts.[15]

672

Down in Pawtucket a baggage and express building was built on the opposite side of the tracks from

the passenger depot.[16]

As if by miracle, in Providence the various contending groups seemed at last to have gotten on the

same page with a new terminal plan, which the Commission reported to the city council 13 April.

The plan, quickly adopted by the council, was rejected however by the affected railroads. Several

modifications followed, which were not adopted by the city authorities.[17] All these debates

became moot in February 1896, when the Providence passenger terminal conveniently burned. A

compromise proposal was then adopted that embraced the essential features of the previous plans

and avoided the objection that a "Chinese Wall" would be built, dividing the city[18]. A new station,

which remained in use until well into the Amtrak era, was placed in service in 1898.

In June 1888 the Old Colony inaugurated the “New Limited Express” (later to be called the “Gilt Edge”) between Boston and New York, although because the Thames River bridge was not completed until the following year cars still had to be ferried between New London and Groton. This

train featured the first dining car to be placed in service in southern New England.[19] The “Gilt Edge” was so elegant and highly regarded a train that it is hard to know whether the 1894 gravestone of 35-year-old Walter M. Bushell in Mansfield's Spring Brook Cemetery engraved "Killed by Gilt

Edge Express" is a case of bragging or complaining.

Construction of the railroad bridge across the broad mouth of the Thames had been stalled by

maritime business interests. Prior to its completion the only all-rail routes between Boston and New

York were via Worcester, Springfield and Hartford, or by way of the New York and New England

Railroad through Walpole, Putnam, Willimantic and Middletown – the "air line." The Springfield

route was circuitous, the air line 17 miles shorter but beset with grades and curves.[20] But now the

Shore Line became the best way to travel between The Hub and Gotham.[21] The New-York,

Providence & Boston Railroad completed this no-ferry “through” route on 10 October 1889, when the world's largest double-track steel movable bridge was opened across the Thames River.[22]

The most radical change brought to the former Boston and Providence by Old Colony was the

conversion to British-style left-hand running. I should not use the misleading word "British."

Although trains on double-track railways in Britain ran and still normally run on the left-hand track

(their highway laws reflect this practice), nearly all United States railroads operated their trains on

the right-hand iron. Why this opposite practice should be so I have no idea. Possibly right-

handedness on American highways arose during or after the Revolution out of obstinate antipathy to

673

all things British. More likely it is a more ancient American custom. The Old Colony Railroad was

an exception to the general American practice in that on double track their trains ran on the left.

Contrary to the popular impression, this was not done in an attempt to ape Mother England or

because the road's officialdom were influenced by English practices. Old Colony in fact did not

operate left-handed from its beginning, but changed from right-hand running 13 May 1854 to suit the

peculiar track arrangements in Braintree and Boston.[23]

A grossly erroneous newspaper item on this subject in November 1888 comments:

It is becoming a custom in this country to run trains on the left-hand track, as is done in England. It

affords the engineer a better and fuller view of the tracks ahead.

The Boston and Providence R. R. always [sic] runs its trains on the left-hand track, and their depots

all along the route were built to accommodate the plan. It is said that the O. C. is adopting the plan on

all their lines.[24]

It is another testimony to the safety of railroads that the changeover from right- to left-handed

running appears to have been unaccompanied by problems. In 1893, however, a serious passenger

train accident occurred in Attleboro, in which one whole side of a wooden baggage car was ripped

open and the interior of the car eviscerated.[25] What its cause might have been and whether there

were casualties I do not know.

Old Colony's action in leasing Boston and Providence delayed but did not prevent the grand entry

of the powerful New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (referred to as "The Consolidated" by

those who disliked or feared it) into Boston. On 1 March 1893 Old Colony leased its property,

including its leasehold interest in the Boston and Providence property, to the New Haven Railroad

for 99 years, and for the first time Boston to New York train service over the Shore Line was

controlled by a single corporation.

The last vestige of Old Colony practices vanished 22 September 1895 when the New York, New

Haven and Hartford converted the leased Old Colony lines back to right-handed operation.[26] On

27 December 1901 the Boston and Providence Railroad Corporation (of Massachusetts) lease was

assumed by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad at a very high rental. This lease was to

run until 31 March 1987.[27]

It is a significant fact that the Boston and Providence continued even after the lease of its property

to Old Colony to exist as a separate and independent legal corporate entity, receiving and

distributing its rent, and was not a subsidiary or affiliate of either the Old Colony or the New

674

Haven.[28] This arrangement held until Boston and Providence was purchased by the Penn Central

Transportation Company in June 1971. Ill-fated Penn Central believed that in acquiring the New

York, New Haven and Hartford, their purchase included the Boston and Providence. In truth, Penn

Central had purchased only the 1901 lease of Boston and Providence to the New Haven, not the

Boston and Providence properties per se. Penn Central's legal staff apparently had neglected to "do

all their sums" and failed to recognize the reality that the New Haven was then operating some

leased lines they did not own. Several interesting legal battles ensued between the still extant Boston

and Providence shareholders and Penn Central, with Penn Central ultimately having to negotiate

with Boston and Providence for the right to run trains over the latter company‟s tracks![29]

Rhode Island historian Richard Bayles in 1891 penned an appropriate last word that makes one

long for the good old days: “The history of the Boston & Providence railroad is a record of almost

unvarying prosperity. The road was first built in a very thorough manner . . . and this excellence has

always been kept up. Financially its record has been the purest and soundest. Its capital has been

increased under the authority of the two legislatures from one million dollars to four millions.”

675

NOTES

1. Reprint of 1888 Old Colony R. R. poster in NHRHS Newsletter, Dec. 1982: issue 68, p. 5.

2. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 45.

3. Humphrey and Clark 1985: 31, 1986: 12.

4. This whistle signal for grade crossings, so familiar to me in my boyhood and which enginemen were instructed

to repeat or prolong until the crossing was reached, was long ago modified to two long, one short and one long whistle

blast, it being difficult to prolong the final short toot without turning it into a long one. This signal is still used not only

for public crossings but also to warn track workmen.

5. Galvin 1987: 17-18. The former Boston & Providence engines were renumbered in sequence from 154 to 217

(C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 71). As an example, Daniel Nason, B&P 17, became Old Colony 170 (White 1981: 38-9).

See Appendix for list of B&P engines taken over in 1888 by Old Colony.

6. Mansfield News 8 Oct. 1987, “100 years ago.”

7. Mansfield News 15 Oct. 1987, “100 years ago.”

8. Nery 1988.

9 C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 73; Mansfield News 28 May 1926; Copeland 1931f; evidence of former Mansfield

towerman Bowman Sheehan 1970. I remember Peter Duguid, who lived in Mansfield and who at one time was my

father's boss, mainly for the shiny black Model A Ford he drove. My father also had a boss named Peter Pilkington, but

how related to the man from Union Switch & Signal I do not know – perhaps a son. Interlocking, patented in England in

1856 and used there since 1867, was very late getting across the pond; in 1873, according to Droege (1916-69: 46), not

one interlocking plant existed in the U. S., while in England the London & Northwestern alone had 13,000 interlocking

levers in service. Interlocking was first imported to the U. S. about 1874. It was the desire for train speed as much as

safety that prompted the installation of interlocking. Mansfield's new "puzzle switches," correctly known as double slip

switches with movable-point frogs, enabled trains either to be run straight through or switched from any track to any

other. One might question whether Mansfield's large tower was not obsolescent within a few years after it was built.

Droege (ibid.: 50) writes that "mechanical interlocking is intended rather for the smaller junction points where a limited

number of levers is required, say from 12 to 16 and where one attendant can readily do all the work." Electro-pneumatic

interlocking plants began to be introduced in the U. S. about 1890 and all-electric interlockings were in use from 1900.

10. Original photos were given by Anna Bruno, widow of a former Mansfield station agent, to Mansfield Hist. Soc.

(courtesy of L. F. Flynn, who provided me with copies.) In 1970 retired railroad employe Edward McGinn gave me an

undated photo of the tower taken while left-hand running was still in use. The upstairs windows were shaded by canvas

awnings, and from one of the end windows the towerman, wearing a baseball cap, peers out at the photographer.

11. Mansfield News 28 Aug. 1988, “100 years ago.” Gen. Philip H. Sheridan died at Nonquitt, Mass., 5 Aug. 1888, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

12. C. Brown 1989: 32-3. A photo showing the interior of Park Square's five-track train shed reveals evidence of the

first use by an American railroad of containers on flat cars, now abbreviated COFC.

13. Galvin 1987: 9, photo caption.

14. Diamond 1986: 7.

15. Galvin 1987: 18.

16. Ozog 1984: 9.

676

17. Francis in Dubiel 1974: 15-16.

18. Droege 1916-69: 75. Even so, the city of Providence used injunction suits to hold up the use of the new station

for two years, and compelled the construction of a large poorly lighted and ventilated train shed (ibid.: 10n) that,

predictably, was torn down later.

19. NYNH&H Aug. 1943: 11.

20. My father told me that to pull a passenger train of Shore Line length over the air line grades would require

doubleheaded engines.

21. Waters 2001.

22. Harlow 1946: 186; Turner and Jacobus 1986: 14 (see p. 15 for photo).

23. C. Fisher/Dubiel 1919-74: 19. The former Chicago & North Western Ry ran left-handed, and so in some places

(for the sake of the steam locomotive engineer's visibility on curving track and because of one track having been

constructed long after the other) did the former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.

24. First paragraph from the Boston Journal. Mansfield News 23 Nov. 1888. The News editor let this slip by! To my

knowledge none of the passenger depots then in use on B. & P. conformed to left-hand running, but for convenience to

the passengers were built adjacent to the inbound (right-hand0 track.

25. Moxham 2001, q. v. for photo of damaged car. I have no further details on this accident.

26. Refer to Appendix "C."

27. NYNH&H 1917. The New Haven acquired several other railroads that have been mentioned in this history. The

"Stonington" (New-York, Providence & Boston R. R. Co.), itself the product of several acquisitions (New London &

Stonington R. R. Co. 1 Dec. 1864, R. I. Central R. R. Co. June 1880, Pontiac Branch R. R. Feb. 1885) was deeded to

NYNH&H 3 Feb. 1893 and merged with them the following day. Boston & New York Airline R. R. Co. was deeded to

NYNH&H 30 Jan. 1907 and merged with them 26 Mar. 1907. (NYNH&H 1917; NHRAA 1940-52/2002: 31, 48, 53, 62,

71.)

28. U. S. Supreme Court, 1940.

29. A. M. Levitt, letter to ed. of All Tickets Forum 2002. Levitt notes that Boston & Providence shareholders

"required the New Haven to keep detailed records (including train and car mileages of workings over their tracks) until

the demise in 1971."

677

Appendix

(A) – Date index of locomotives of the Boston and Providence Rail Road

and the Taunton Branch Rail Road

Compiled from R&LH bulletins 46 and 48, C. E. Fisher 1938 and '39, W. D. Edson 1981, and other sources.

Locomotives are listed in chronological order of date built or acquired.

Number Name Builder Type Drivers Cyl Dates of service Notes

From To

Taunton Branch Rail Road

--- ........... Taunton ................................ Locks&Canals . ........... ....... .................. 1836 ............. After 1888?

--- ........... New Bedford ......................... Locks&Canals . ........... ....... .................. 1837 ............. By 1839

--- ........... Rocket ................................... Locks&Canals . ........... ....... .................. 1839 ............. After 1888?

--- ........... Meteor ................................... Locks&Canals . ........... ....... .................. 1840 ............. Before 1888 (a)

--- ........... Alfred Gibbs ......................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 15x20......... 09-13-1848 .. Before 1888

--- ........... Whistler ................................. TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 15x18......... 05-28-1849 .. Before 1888 (b)

--- ........... Pickwick................................ ......................... ........... ....... .................. ? ............... (cc) JFC

Boston and Providence Rail Road

--- ............ Whistler/Massachusetts (1) ... R. Stephenson .. 2-2-0 ... 60 ... 11x16 ......... 1832/3 .......... By 1846 rn (c)

--- ........... Black Hawk ........................... Am.Steam Car. 2-2-0 ... ....... .................. 1833 ............. 1834 (d) JNW

--- ........... Lincoln .................................. Am.Steam Car .2-2-0 ... 48 ... 14x20......... 1833 or '35 .. Before 1838 rb, rn, sd (e)

--- ........... Boston (1) ............................. Edw. Bury ........ 2-2-0 ... 60 ... 11x16 ......... 1835 ............. By 1858 sd (f)

--- ........... New York (1) ......................... Geo. Forrester .. 2-2-0 ... 66 ... 11x18 ......... 1835 ............. By 1854

--- ........... Lowell (ex-Whistler #2) ........ Locks&Canals . 2-2-0 ... 60 ... 11x16 ......... 1835 ............. By 1839?

--- ........... Providence (1) (ex-Whist#3) Locks&Canals .. 2-2-0 ... 60 ... 11x16 ......... 1835 ............. By 1849

--- ........... Canton (1) ............................. Am.Steam Car. 2-2-0 ... ....... .................. 1835 ............. Before 1838 sd (g)

--- ........... Dedham (1) ........................... Am.Steam Car. 2-2-0 ... ....... .................. 1835 ............. Before 1838 sd

--- ........... Philadelphia .......................... Am.Steam Car. 4-2-0 ... ....... .................. 1835 ............. After 1839 (h)

--- ........... Baldwin #1 ............................ M. Baldwin ...... 4-2-0 ... 54 ... 11x16 ......... 1836 or „37 .. After 1840

--- ........... Baldwin #2 ............................ M. Baldwin ...... 4-2-0 ... 54 ... 11x16 ......... 1836 or „37 .. After 1840

--- ........... Baldwin #3 ............................ M. Baldwin ...... 4-2-0 ... 54 ... 11x16 ......... 1836 or „37 .. After 1840

--- ........... Young #1 ............................... New Castle....... 4-2-0 ... 60 ... 11x16 ......... 1836 ............. After 1839

--- ........... Young #2 ............................... New Castle....... 4-2-0 ... 60 ... 11x16 ......... 1836 ............. After 1839

--- ........... Tiot ........................................ Locks&Canals . ........... ....... .................. 1837 ............. 1838

678

--- ........... Neponset (1) .......................... Locks&Canals . 2-2-0 ... 60 ... 12x18......... 1837 ............. 1838 sd (i)

--- ........... King Philip (1) ...................... Locks&Canals . 2-2-0 ... ....... ??x16 ......... 1839 ............. 1855 rb, rn (j)

1 (1) ..... Norfolk .................................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 55 ... 14-1/2x18 .. 1845 ............. After 1855

--- ........... Suffolk .................................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 14-5/8x18 .. 1846 ............. By 1858 sd (k)

--- ........... Bristol ................................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 14-5/8x18 .. 1846 ............. By 1858 sd (l)

2 (1) ...... Massachusetts (2) .................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 14-5/8x18 .. 1846 ............. 1881 sc

--- ........... Blackstone ............................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 14-3/4x20 .. 1847 ............. By 1858? sd (m)

--- ........... Taghonic ................................ Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 14-3/4x18 .. 1848 ............. By 1858 sd 1877

--- ........... Narragansett .......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 54 ... 16x20......... 1848 ............. By 1858 sd 1878

3 (1) ...... Iron Horse ............................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 14-3/4x18 .. 1848 ............. 1878 rt; sd c1880 (n)

4 (1) ...... Rhode Island ......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 14-3/4x20 .. 1848 ............. 1884 rb 1867, sc (o)

5 (1) ...... Providence (2) ....................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 15x18......... 1849 ............. 1869 sc

--- ........... Canton (2) ............................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 14-3/4x20 .. 1849 ............. By 1858 sd 1867

6 (1) ...... Neponset (2) .......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 14-3/4x20 .. 1849 ............. 1883 sd (p)

7 (1) ...... Highlander ............................ Geo. Griggs...... 0-6-0 ... 48 ... 14-3/4x18 .. 1850 ............. 1877 sc

--- ........... Roxbury (1) ........................... Geo. Griggs 2-2-2T 54 .... 9x16........... 1851 ............. By 1858 sd (q)

--- ........... Dedham (2) ........................... Geo. Griggs 2-2-2T ... 54 ... 9x16........... 1851 ............. 1856 sd (r)

8 (1) ...... W. R. Lee (1) ......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 15-3/4x18 .. 1853 ............. 1874 sc (s)

9 (1) ...... Washington ........................... Geo. Griggs ..... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 15x20......... 1854 ............. 1888 rt *

10 (1) ..... New York (2) ......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 15x20......... 1854 ............. 1887 rt

11 (1) ...... Mansfield .............................. TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x20......... 08-1855........ 1877 sc (t)

--- ........... G. S. Griggs (1) ..................... Amoskeag ........ 4-4-0 ... 54 ... 15x22......... 1855 ............. By 1858 rb, rn (u)

12 (1) ..... Attleboro ............................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 54 ... 15x20......... 1855 ............. 1880 sc (v)

15 ........... Roxbury (2) ........................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 15-1/2x20 .. 1858 ............. 1889 sc

13 (1) ..... Foxboro (ex-Ariel) ................ Lowell Mach. ... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 14x20......... 1859 ............. 1880 sc

14 (1) ..... Sharon ................................... Lowell Mach .... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 14x20......... 1859 ............. 1881 sc

16 (1) ..... Dedham (3) ........................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16x20......... 1860 ............. 1899 sc

17 ........... Daniel Nason ......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 54 ... 16x20......... 1863? ........... Still exists (w)

18 (1) ..... Boston (2) ............................. Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 54 ... 16x20......... 1863 ............. 1884 rb, sd (x)

19 ........... Commonwealth ..................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 15-3/4x20 .. 1864 ............. 1892 sc

20 (1) ..... G. W. Whistler ....................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x20......... 11-1864 ........ 1881 sc

24 (1) ..... John Barstow ......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 15-3/4x20 .. 1865 ............. 1885 sd

22 (1) ..... Readville (1) ......................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x20......... 07-1866........ 1883 sc

25 (1) ..... Gen'l Grant ............................ Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16x20......... 1866 ............. 1883 sc

21 ........... A. A. Folsom ......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x22......... 1867 ............. 04-30-1915 sc

23 ........... W. H. Morrell ........................ Hinkley ............ 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1868 ............. 1902 sc

26 (1) ..... Judge Warren ......................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x22......... 1868 ............. 1885 sc

32 ........... Pegasus (ex-Gov. Clifford) .... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x22......... 1868 ............. 1890 sc

27 ........... David Tyler ........................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x22......... 1869 ............. 1890 sc

Dummy .. Little Rhody .......................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 43 ... 11x15 ......... 1869 ............. (y)

30 ........... G. S. Griggs (2) ..................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1869 ............. 1902 sc

28 (1) ..... Gov. Clifford (2) ................... Geo. Griggs...... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x22......... 1870 ............. By 1886

31 ........... John Winthrop ....................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1870 ............. 1898 sc

33 ........... Roger Williams ..................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1870 ............. 1898 sc

--- ........... Iron Clad ............................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 14x24......... 1870 ............. 1904 sc

679

5 (2) ...... Providence (3) ....................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1871 ............. Before 1903 sc

29 ........... Paul Revere ........................... B&P shops ....... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x22......... 1871 ............. 1892 sc

34 ........... Pancks ................................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 14x24......... 1871 ............. 08-01-1906 sc

--- ........... Useful .................................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 14x24......... 1871 ............. 1904 sc

--- ........... Janus ..................................... Mason .......... 0-6-6-0T . 42 ... 15x22 (4) ... 1871 ............. 1872 (z)

35 ........... William Gibbs McNeill ......... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16-1/2x24 .. 1872 ............. 06-15-1917 sc

36 ........... Sam Weller ............................ R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 14x24......... 1872 ............. 1903 sc

37 ........... B. R. Nichols ......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1872 ............. 1899 sc *

38 ........... John Lightner ........................ R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1872 ............. 1901 sc

39 ........... William W. Woolsey.............. R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1872 ............. 1900 sc

40 (1) ..... Stoughton (1) ........................ R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 54 ... 14x22......... 1872 ............. By 1887 sd (aa)

41 ........... Mark Tapley .......................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 12x22......... 1873 ............. 1903 sc

42 ........... Micawber .............................. R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 14x24......... 1873 ............. 09-15-1906 sc

43 ........... George Richards .................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1873 ............. 1904 sc

44 ........... Moses B. Ives ........................ R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16-1/2x24 .. 1873 ............. 11-30-1919 sc

45 ........... Viaduct .................................. B&P shops ....... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x22......... 1873 ............. 1892 sc *

8 (2) ...... W. Raymond Lee (2) ............. R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16x24......... 1874 ............. 12-1935 sc

7 (2) ...... Geo. R. Russell ..................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16x24......... 1876 ............. 1904 sc

11 (2) ...... Henry Dalton ......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16x24......... 1877 ............. 10-18-1904 sc

3 (2) ...... Thomas B. Wales .................. R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1878 ............. 07-01-1909 sc

46 ........... J. H. Wolcott.......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1879 ............. 01-20-1919 sc

12 (2) ..... Benjamin B. Torrey ............... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1880 ............. 11-20-1919 sc (bb)

47 ........... Thomas Motley ..................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1880 ............. 11-30-1919 sc

1 (2) ...... T. P. I. Goddard ..................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1880 or '81 ... 08-08-1919 sc

2 (2) ...... William R. Robeson .............. R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 18x22......... 1881 ............. 01-16-1913 sc (bb)

13 (2) ..... Joseph W. Balch .................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1881 ............. 10-04-1910 sc

14 (2) ..... James Daily ........................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1881 ............. 04-22-1905 sc

20 (2) ...... Royal C. Taft ......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1881 ............. 01-20-1919 sc

48 ........... D. L. Davis ............................ R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1882 ............. 10-22-1918 sc

49 ........... Henry A. Chace ..................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1882 ............. 10-24-1913 sc

50 ........... Isaiah Hoyt ............................ R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1882 ............. 09-29-1919 sc

51 ........... H. F. Barrows ........................ R. I. .................. 0-4-4 ... 54 ... 15x20......... 1882 ............. 1904 sc *

52 ........... Abner Alden .......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1882 ............. 12-03-1908 sc

--- ........... Utility .................................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 15x24......... 1882 ............. 1904 sc

6 (2) ...... Geo. R. Minot ....................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 18x24......... 1883 ............. 06-1910 sc

25 (2) ..... David B. Standish ................. TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1883 ............. 12-22-1907 sc

53 ........... Moses Boyd .......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1883 ............. 02-08-1914 sc

54 ........... Jack Bunsby .......................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 14x24......... 1883 ............. 11-04-1906 sc

4 (2) ...... Henry A. Whitney ................. Mason .............. 4-4-0 ... 69 ... 18x24......... 1884 ............. 02-1917 sc (cc)

22 (2) ..... Readville (2) ......................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 16x24......... 1884 ............. 12-12-1910 sc

55 ........... Jos. Grinnell .......................... R. I. .................. 0-4-4 ... 54 ... 16x20......... 1884 ............. 01-26-1907 sc

56 ........... Wm. Appleton ....................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1884 ............. 12-31-1915 sc

57 ........... Fred. Paine ............................ TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1884 ............. 01-1906 sc

18 (2) ..... Arnold Green ........................ R. I. 0-4-6T ... 54 ... 17x20......... 1885 ............. 10-1908 sc

24 (2) ..... C. H. Wheeler ....................... R. I. 0-4-6T ... 54 ... 15x20......... 1885 ............. 05-05-1911 sc

680

28 (2) ..... R. H. Stevenson ..................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1886 ............. 12-31-1915 sc

58 ........... Roger Wolcott ....................... TauntonLMfg ... 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1886 ............. 02-1917 sc

59 ........... W. G. Russell ......................... R. I. 0-4-6T ... 56 ... 17x20......... 1886 ............. 01-17-1913 sc (dd)

60 ........... Winslow Warren .................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 17x24......... 1886 ............. 04-30-1915 sc

10 (2) ..... Wm. Merrill .......................... R. I. 0-4-6T ... 54 ... 17x20......... 1887 ............. 11-30-1914 sc

40 (2) ..... John H. Clifford .................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 16x24......... 1887 ............. 12-01-1906 sc

61 ........... C. H. Warren ......................... R. I. 0-4-6T ... 54 ... 17x24......... 1887 ............. 04-30-1915 sc (ee)

62 ........... Stoughton (2) ........................ Hinkley ............ 4-4-0 ... 60 ... 18x24......... 10-1887........ 05-18-1917 sc

63 ........... Henry W. Dale ....................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1887 ............. 12-31-1915 sc

26 (2) ..... Squantum .............................. TauntonLMfg 0-4-4T .. 54 ... 16x20......... 1887 ............. 02-1908 sc (ff)#

9 (2) ...... Susan Nipper ......................... R. I. .................. 0-4-0 ... 48 ... 15x24......... 1888 ............. 10-24-1913 sc

1638 .......... Robert Keayne ...................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 18x24......... 1888 ............. 05-28-1920 sc (gg)

64 ........... J. O. Yatman .......................... R. I. .................. 4-4-0 ... 66 ... 17x24......... 1888 ............. 10-24-1913 sc

--- ........... J. I. Ives ................................. ......................... ........... ....... .................. ? ............... ? (hh) JFC

--- ........... W. H. Harrison ...................... ......................... ........... ....... .................. ? ............... ? (hh) JFC

681

Notes:

(a) Reboilered by Taunton Loco. Mfg. Co. (C. Fisher) 1851.

(b) Ordered by Rutland & Burlington R. R. (Edson).

(c) Built by Robt. Stephenson (A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 1998) 1832 possibly for Boston & Worcester R. R. Sold to B&P

1833. Sank in Mansfield bog (C. Fisher) probably at or near Wading River, West Mansfield, c.July 1834. Salvaged and returned to

service by Aug. 1834. Later renamed Massachusetts. Rumor has it in storage at Providence until c1850 (E. Stange pers. comm.).

(d) Built 1833, burned anthracite coal as did at least two other locomotives built for B&P (Westwood). Lost in quicksand at

Sprague's Pond, Readville, 1834 (C. Fisher, Westwood). Never recovered. An anonymous source suggests that Black Hawk may have

been a 4-2-0 type with a swiveling lead truck mounted on a center bearing.

(e) Rebuilt by Norris & Long 1834 and converted from anthracite fuel to wood, rebuilt by Globe Loco. Wks 11-1854

(Edson). Sold to Boston, Hartford & Erie, no. 5, renamed Mt. Bowdoin, c1863 (C. Fisher and Edson).

(f) Sold to Boston, Hartford & Erie R. R., no. 7, 09-1863 (C. Fisher and Edson), probably taken into ownership by New York

& New England R. R. In 1873, appears to have worked on NY&NE for some time after 1873 (Levitt 1997). Cylinders 12x18 (C.

Fisher 1939).

(g) Sold to Norfolk County R. R. 1848 (Edson).

(h) Tried out first by Boston & Worcester which found it unsatisfactory and turned it over to B&P (C. Fisher, according to

Harlow 1946: 97n).

(i) Sold to Boston, Hartford & Erie R. R., no. 3, c1863, where it retained same name (Edson; C. Fisher).

(j) Rebuilt to 4-4-0, drivers 54, cylinders 15x20, renamed Attleboro (C. Fisher) 1855 when name King Philip (1) was given

to rebuilt G. S. Griggs.

(k) Sold to Norwich & Worcester R. R. (C. Fisher and Edson) 1868 (Edson).

(l) Sold to Portland & Ogdensburg R. R. (?) 1869, renamed Presumpsic (Edson).

(m) Sold to Springfield Loco. Wks. (C. Fisher). Resold to Amherst, Belchertown & Palmer, renamed Amherst (Edson).

(n) Renamed Hyde Park. Lead truck applied to Daniel Nason Sept. 1880 (White). Sold to Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R.

(C. Fisher). See Sweeney 2006: 7 for 1850 photo of this engine with 6-wheel tender.

(o) Rebuilt with drivers 60, cylinders 15-1/2x20.

(p) Sold to R. I. Loco. Wks 1883, rebuilt and sold to Northern Adirondack R .R. 1885 (Edson, C. Fisher).

(q) Sold to Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg R. R. (C. Fisher).

(r) Sold to Fitchburg & Worcester R. R., renamed Uncle Tom (C. Fisher).

(s) Scrapped after collision at Attleboro 7 Mar. 1874 (Mansfield News). Edson's scrap date of 1873 is incorrect.

(t) Built 1854. Acquired from Southbridge & Blackstone R. R. (Norfolk County RR), their No. 156, Hamilton Willis, 08-

1855 . Built by Taunton Loco. Wks 1854, drivers 72 (C. Fisher, Edson).

(u) Rebuilt and renamed King Philip (2) (C. Fisher) after c1855 boiler explosion. King Philip (1) was renamed Attleborough.

(v) Ex-King Philip (1), renamed after c1855 boiler explosion of George S. Griggs (C. Fisher).

(w) Rebuilt 1879-80 (White). Backdated for display at 1893 Columbian Exposition, Chicago. In 1896 loaned by NYHN&H

R. R. to Purdue Univ. for display (C. Fisher, Terry). Taken back by NYNH&H R. R. and exhibited at New York World's Fair 1939-40.

After spending some time at the NYNH&H R. R. Van Nest shops, New Haven, it was purchased by a private owner (Terry). By 1971

it was on exhibition at Danbury (Ct.) State Fairgrounds (Edson) and apparently remained there until acquired at auction 1982 by

Museum of Transportation, Kirkwood, Mo., near St. Louis; remained in covered storage until 2000, when repainted by MOT, left in

1893 configuration and paint scheme and moved inside the Roberts Bldg (Terry). There is some question whether its present six-wheel

tender is original.

(x) Rebuilt with drivers 66, cylinders 15-1/2x20 (Edson).

682

(y) May have been used as inspection engine and pay car (J. W. Swanberg pers. comm. 2000). Reported making first official

trip as B&P pay car 8 June 1874 (Mansfield News).

(z) Double-ender built 1869-70 for Central Pacific R. R., not accepted. Tested as helper on Sharon Hill but not purchased by

B&P; sent to Boston & Albany R. R. and Lehigh Valley R. R., scrapped by LV.

(aa) Sold to Sault Ste. Marie Southwestern R. R.

(bb) See Sweeney 2006: 6, 23 for the only known photos of ths engine. Weight of engine and tender according to Sweeney 69

tons.

(cc) Burned anthracite coal (Mansfield News).

(dd) C. Fisher says 66" drivers; the editor of the Mansfield News who saw the engine in June 1884 says 69". The editor also

reports a 54" steel boiler and 80" firebox.

(ee) Nos. 59 and 61 had 56-1/2 drivers (Edson).

(ff) A "Forney" bought by Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. 1885, their no. 4, sold to B&P c1887 (Swanberg 1988: 79).

(gg) This engine probably was ordered by B&P but delivered to and numbered by OC after the 1888 lease

(hh) Unverified. Not listed by C. Fisher or Edson. J. I. Ives was possibly confused with Moses B. Ives, no. 44.

Copeland (1931c) names the engine Norton as operating "out of Mansfield." If this is correct, it may have belonged to the

Taunton Branch. She also describes Micawber and Mark Tapley as assigned to Taunton Branch, but the Dickens names sound more

characteristic of B&P.

Symbols:

sc Scrapped.

sd Sold.

rb Rebuilt.

rn Renumbered and/or renamed.

rt Retired.

JFC Copeland 1931c, 1936: 67.

JNW Westwood 1977/78: 69-70.

* Photo in C. Fisher Sept. 1938.

# Photo in Swanberg 1988: 80.

Taunton Branch Rail Road was incorporated 7 Apr. 1835 and became part of New Bedford Rail Road 16 Jan. 1874.

Boston and Providence Rail Road was chartered 22 June 1831 and leased to Old Colony Railroad 1 Apr. 1888.

Locomotives listed are those known to have been operated by each railroad between those dates.

From these rosters, though they probably are not quite correct or complete, it should be possible to determine

approximately which locomotives were in service on Taunton Branch and Boston and Providence in any particular year

during their corporate existence.

According to Gerstner (1842/1843 [trans. 1997], Early American railroads, p. 324, 331), in 1839 Boston and

Providence had 11 locomotives and Taunton Branch had 2 locomotives. C. Fisher says Taunton Branch rented Taunton

Locomotive Manufacturing Company locomotives for periods of six months to one year before their delivery to other

roads, which accounts for scarcity of early Taunton Branch engines. From 1840 on, New Bedford and Taunton Rail Road

engines were also used on Taunton Branch.

683

A report of the Boston and Providence Board of Directors in 1867 indicates that as of that year the railroad owned 31

locomotives. Using my Date Index, above, however, I can account for only 23 or 24 engines in service in 1867.

As of the end of 1880 Boston and Providence owned 48 locomotives (Mansfield News).

Boston and Providence tested at least one Mason locomotive with Boardman boiler in 1857 but found it not

satisfactory and returned it to the builder.

Numbering of Boston and Providence locomotives occurred 1855-1858. Locomotives unnumbered after this period

but not yet known to be retired, sold or scrapped are assumed to have been stored or otherwise unserviceable.

Engines apparently removed from service some time prior to the date they were retired, sold or scrapped are assumed

to have been stored unserviceable.

The assumption has been made that when a new locomotive was given the same name or number as an older one, the

older engine was no longer in service.

Many of the locomotives listed above were rebuilt, renamed and/or renumbered by Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and

New Bedford Railroad, Old Colony Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad before being retired,

sold or scrapped. No attempt has been made to list these alterations, which can be found in Fisher/Edson.

684

(B) – Boston and Providence locomotives at time of Old Colony 1888 lease

and their ultimate disposition

B&P no. B&P name Type Builder and yr OC no. NH nos. Scrap date Notes

1 ....... T. P. I. Goddard ........... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1880/81 ...... 154 ........ 754, 1890 ....... 08-18-1919 ........ (a)

2 ....... William R. Robeson ..... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1881 ........... 155 ........ 755, 1704 ....... 01-16-1913

3 ....... Thomas B. Wales ......... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1878 ........... 156 ........ 756, 1910 ....... 07-01-1909

4 ....... Henry A. Whitney ........ 4-4-0 ..... Mason 1884 ........ 157 ........ 757, 1702 ....... 02-1917

5 ....... Providence .................. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1871 ........... 158 ........ 758 ................ Before 1903

6 ....... Geo. R. Minot .............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1883 ........... 159 ........ 759, 1750 ....... 06-1910

7 ....... Geo. R. Russell ............ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1876 ........... 160 ........ 760 ................ 1904

8 ....... W. Raymond Lee ......... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1874 ........... 161 ........ 761, 1596 ....... 12-1935 .................. (b)

9 ....... Susan Nipper ............... 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1888 ........... 162 ........ 762, 2900 ....... 10-24-1913

10 ...... Wm. Merrill ................ 0-4-6T ... R. I. 1887 ........... 163 ........ 763, 2110 ....... 11-30-1914

11 ...... Henry Dalton .............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1877 ........... 164 ........ 764, 2013 ....... 10-18-1904

12 ...... Benjamin B. Torrey ..... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1880 ........... 165 ........ 765, 1815 ....... 11-20-1919 ............. (c)

13 ...... Joseph W. Balch .......... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1881 ........... 166 ........ 766, 1876 ....... 10-04-1910

14 ...... James Daily ................ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1881 ........... 167 ........ 767, 1919 ....... 04-22-1905

15 ...... Roxbury ....................... 4-4-0 ..... Griggs 1858 ........ 168 ........ ...................... 1888

16 ...... Dedham ....................... 4-4-0 ..... Griggs 1860 ........ ? .......... ? ................... ? ........................... (d)

17 ...... Daniel Nason .............. 4-4-0 ..... Griggs 1863? ...... 170 ........ 770 ................ Still exists ............... (e)

18 ...... Arnold Green .............. 0-4-6T ... R. I. 1885 ........... 171 ........ 771, 2113 ....... 10-1908

19 ...... Commonwealth ........... 4-4-0 ..... Griggs 1864 ........ 172 ........ ...................... 1892

20 ...... Royal C. Taft ............... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 188 ............. 173 ........ 773, 1870 ....... 01-20-1919 ............. (f)

21 ...... A. A. Folsom ............... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1867 ........... 174 ........ 774, 2011 ....... 04-30-1915 ............. (g)

22 ...... Readville ..................... 4-4-0 ..... Taunton 1884 ..... 175 ........ 775, 2021 ....... 12-12-1910

23 ...... W. H. Morrell .............. 4-4-0 ..... Hinkley 1868 ...... 176 ........ 776 ................ 1902

24 ...... C. H. Wheeler ............. 0-4-6T ... R. I. 1885 ........... 177 ........ 777, 2114 ....... 05-05-1911

25 ...... David B. Standish ....... 4-4-0 ..... Taunton 1883 ..... 178 ........ 778, 2022 ....... 12-22-1907

26 ...... Squantum .................... 0-4-4T ... Taunton 1885 ..... 179 ........ 779, 2116 ....... 02-1908

27 ...... David Tyler ................. 4-4-0 ..... Griggs 1869 ........ 180 ........ ...................... 1890

28 ...... R. H. Stevenson ........... 4-4-0 ..... Taunton 1886 ..... 181 ........ 781, 1893 ....... 12-31-1915

29 ...... Paul Revere ................. 4-4-0 ..... B&P 1871 ........... 182 ........ 782 ................ 1892

30 ...... G. S. Griggs ................. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1869 ........... 183 ........ 783 ................ 1902

31 ...... John Winthrop ............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1870 ........... 184 ........ 784 ................ 1898

685

32 ...... Pegasus ....................... 4-4-0 ..... Taunton 1868 ..... 185 ........ 785 ................ 1890

33 ...... Roger Williams ............ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1870 ........... 186 ........ 786 ................ 1898

34 ...... Pancks ......................... 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1871 ........... 187 ........ 787, 2913 ....... 08-01-1906

35 ...... William G. McNeill ...... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1872 ........... 188 ........ 788, 1871 ....... 06-15-1917 ............. (h)

36 ...... Sam Weller .................. 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1872 ........... 189 ........ 789 ................ 1903

37 ...... B. R. Nichols ............... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1872 ........... 190 ........ 790 ................ 1899

38 ...... John Lightner .............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1872 ........... 191 ........ 791 ................ 1901

39 ...... W. W. Woolsey ............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1872 ........... 192 ........ 792 ................ 1900

40 ...... John H. Clifford .......... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1887 ........... 193 ........ 793, 2004 ....... 12-01-1906

41 ...... Mark Tapley ................ 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1873 ........... 194 ........ 794 ................ 1903

42 ...... Micawber .................... 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1873 ........... 195 ........ 795, 2910 ....... 09-15-1906

43 ...... Geo. Richards ............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1873 ........... 196 ........ 796 ................ 1904

44 ...... Moses B. Ives .............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1873 ........... 197 ........ 797, 1820 ....... 11-30-1919 ............. (i)

45 ...... Viaduct ........................ 4-4-0 ..... B&P 1873 ........... 198 ........ ...................... 1892

46 ...... J. H. Wolcott ................ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1879 ........... 199 ........ 799, 1872 ....... 01-20-1919 ............. (j)

47 ...... Thomas Motley............ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1880 ........... 200 ........ 800, 1825 ....... 11-30-1919

48 ...... D. L. Davis .................. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1881 ........... 201 ........ 801, 1936 ....... 10-22-1918

49 ...... Henry A. Chase ........... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1881 ........... 202 ........ 802, 2005 ....... 10-24-1913

50 ...... Isaiah Hoyt ................. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1882 ........... 203 ........ 803, 1917 ....... 09-29-1919

51 ...... H. F. Barrows .............. 0-4-4 ..... R. I. 1882 ........... 204 ........ 804 ................ 1904

52 ...... Abner Alden ................ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1882 ........... 205 ........ 805, 1832 ....... 12-03-1908 ............. (k)

53 ...... Moses Boyd ................. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1883 ........... 206 ........ 806, 1918 ....... 02-08-1914

54 ...... Jack Bunsby ................ 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1883 ........... 207 ........ 807, 2908 ....... 11-04-1906

55 ...... Jos. Grinnell ............... 0-4-4 ..... R. I. 1884 ........... 208 ........ 808, 2117 ....... 01-26-1907

56 ...... Wm. Appleton .............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1884 ........... 209 ........ 809, 1886 ....... 12-31-1915

57 ...... Fred. Paine ................. 4-4-0 ..... Taunton 1884 ..... 210 ........ 810, 1875 ....... 01-1906

58 ...... Roger Wolcott ............. 4-4-0 ..... Taunton 1886 ..... 211 ........ 811, 1894 ....... 02-1917

59 ...... W. G. Russell ............... 0-4-6T ... R. I. 1886 ........... 212 ........ 812, 2112 ....... 01-17-1913

60 ...... Winslow Warren .......... 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1886 ........... 213 ........ 813, 1895 ....... 04-30-1915

61 ...... C. H. Warren ............... 0-4-6T ... R. I. 1887 ........... 214 ........ 814, 2111 ....... 04-30-1915

62 ...... Stoughton .................... 4-4-0 ..... Hinkley 1887 ...... 215 ........ 815, 1754 ....... 05-18-1917

63 ...... Henry W. Dale ............. 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1887 ........... 216 ........ 816, 1873 ....... 12-31-1915

64 ...... J. O. Yatman ................ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1888 ........... 217 ........ 817, 1874 ....... 10-24-1913

1638 .. Robert Keayne ............ 4-4-0 ..... R. I. 1888 ........... 169 ........ 769, 1696 ....... 05-28-1920 ............. (d)

--- ...... Iron Clad ..................... 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1870 ........... 220 ........ 820 ................ 1904

--- ...... Useful .......................... 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1871 ........... 219 ........ 819 ................ 1904

--- ...... Utility .......................... 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1882 ........... 218 ........ 818 ................ 1904

--- ...... Little Rhody ................. 0-4-0 ..... R. I. 1869 ........... ? .......... ? ................... ?

686

Notes

(a) Rebuilt by NH 1903.

(b) Rebuilt by NH Roxbury shop 1899.

(c) Rebuilt by NH South Boston shop 1899. See Sweeney 2006: 23 for photo of this engine in later life.

(d) A list of NH "older and inherited" 4-4-0 types as of Sept. 1904 in Swanberg (1988: 67) does not include

No. 1638. This engine probably ordered by B&P but delivered to OC and numbered by them after 1888 lease.

(e) In 2001 in Roberts Building at the Museum of Transportation, Kirkwood, Mo. See Date Index roster for

other details.

(f) Rebuilt by NH Roxbury shop 1894.

(g) Rebuilt by NH Roxbury shop 1903.

(h) Rebuilt by OC 1892.

(i) Rebuilt by NH Roxbury shop 1898.

(j) Rebuilt by OC 1892.

(k) Rebuilt by OC 1891.

From C. Fisher Sept. 1938: 74-7; Edson 1981: xviii; Swanberg 1988: 79, 80. Boston and Providence, by giving new

locomotives numbers vacated by old ones, succeeded in keeping every number between 1 and 64 filled. Why some 0-4-0

type engines received numbers and some did not is a mystery to me. Old Colony simply added 153 to the Boston and

Providence numbers, and New Haven at first added 600 to the Old Colony numbers. In 1904 New Haven initiated a

general renumbering of all its locomotives. The new numbers were assigned based on various mechanical criteria and do

not follow any system recognizable in the above tabulation. Those locomotives scrapped by New Haven before and in

some cases during 1904 of course received no second number. I find it interesting that 37 of the above 70 Boston and

Providence locomotives were still in service, or at least on the roster, when my father went railroading for the New

Haven in 1907, and that one, former Boston and Providence Number 8, W. Raymond Lee, lasted in highly modified form

as New Haven 1596 through 14 years of my lifetime, although I am not aware of having seen it; this doughty Rhode

Island 4-4-0, after being rebuilt in 1899 by Roxbury shops with two-inch-longer piston stroke and larger (69-inch)

driving wheels, expired at the age of 61 years, a fit representative of the worthy West Pointer for whom she originally

was named and whom she outlasted by 44 years! (For how she probably looked, see Swanberg 1988: 63 for photo of

similar rebuilt NH 4-4-0 No. 1593.) Railfan and Railroad (Jan. 2000: 4) reports Daniel Nason at National Museum of

Transport near St. Louis in 1999.

687

(C) – Report of road tests of engine Whistler February-March 1835

Notes of a trip made by "Whistler" on B. & P. Rail Road,

Feb 16th 1835.

Gross Load 9 cars with iron 94,906 lbs

11 passengers---------------1,650 "

________

Total 96,556 lbs

Fuel consumed 1/3 Cord pine wood

Left Car House ----- 10h 4' [rise

At foot of plane 2 --- 10h10' more than one and one half mile a little

" 3 --- 10"13-1/2 4000 ft ast. 14.25 pr. m -- 2200 ft. 3 deg Curve

" 4 --- 10"17-1/2 8000 " " 4.48 " " 3300 " 1 deg "

11-1/3 [illeg.] " 5 --- 10"19-1/2 2000 Level

" 6 --- 10"21-1/2 2600 asct. 12.10 ------- 1500 " 1 deg "

11 ------- " 7 --- 10"26 4400 " 15.00 ------- 1500 " 1 deg "

31 [illeg.] " 8 --- 10"27-1/2 4100 desct 12 -------

27-1/2 " " 9 --- 10"28-1/4 1800 Level

11.9 --- " 10 --- 10"30-1/4 2100 asct. 17.16 900 ft 1 deg "

13.9 --- " 11 --- 10"35 5800 " 8.60 700 " 2 deg "

* " *12 ---

Turnout at Ded- 10"40 7100 Level & 8.97 desct ---------------------

ham branch " 13 ---

Stopped to open

switch

---------------------

t Shut off nearly " t 14 --- 10"44-1/2 10.000 Level

one half steam " 13.6 15 --- 10"48-1/2 4800 Asct. 25 ft. pr m 1000 ft. 2 deg Curve

the last half " 11.8 16 --- 10"51 2600 " 37-1/2 " ---------------------

of this stretch

Time -- 47' -- detention certainly one minute at

Branch --- The engineer blew off steam abun-

dantly going up the last planes. ---

688

March 6 ---

9 cars weighing 76647 lbs.

Tender wood +

water --- 12820 "

________________

89.467 lbs.

Time from Depot to Canton 42'

Return trip ---------------- 46'

Tarry in Canton ------------- 1h 13'

_______

2h 41' during which 40.20th

water was evaporated --

and 3-3/4 foot pine wood

consumed. --

Nearly two thirds steam Throttled off -- while running the

two miles over Fowl meadows -- and steam abundantly

blown off while going up the 25 to 37-1/2 ft pr mile. ---

Notes:

Because my computer lacks the circular symbol for degrees as used in the original report to define track curvature, I

have been forced to substitute the abbreviation "deg."

The word "plane" is employed in the report to indicate any constant gradient. For "ascent" and "descent," the report

uses "ast." or "asct." and "desct." The ascending or descending gradient is expressed in feet rise or fall per mile. The

2600-foot grade ending at the foot of Plane 6 should almost certainly read "desct. 12.10" instead of "asct. 12.10;" this

probable error becomes obvious when a graphic profile constructed from the data is compared to the NYNH&H R. R.

profile maps of 1928-46. The above grade profile agrees well with the NYNH&H profiles as far southward as the foot of

Plane 5 but then begins to deviate increasingly on the high side as well as horizontally (too short), causing me to suspect

that a traverse may have been omitted inadvertently or that the length of a plane has been misstated. I assume that the

figures in feet given for curves are the lengths of the curves; their locations within the "planes" are not specified. The

degrees of curvature do not particularly fit the curves shown on the NYNH&H maps; this probably reflects easing of the

curves and other adjustments to the track over the intervening 90 years. The Dedham Branch switch which had to be

thrown, requiring the engine to stop, is near the present Readville. The meaning of the figures beginning with "11-1/3

[illeg.]" at the left of the column is unknown to me. "Fowl meadows" are more commonly known today as Canton or

Neponset Meadows, though the name "Fowl Meadows" appears on current U. S. G. S. topographic maps.

689

The original handwritten report in 2002 was deposited in the Baldwin Collection, Box 12, File 8, Historical Collections

Dept., Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Mass., and was found and transcribed by Danuta Forbes.

The question remains: Was this the original Stephenson-built Whistler that sank in the West Mansfield bog, or could it

have been "Whistler No. 2" or "Whistler No. 3," as the engines Lowell and Providence seem to have been called? In my

opinion, the fact that the author of the report wrote simply "Whistler" in the heading and not "No.2" or "No. 3" suggests

that the engine most likely was the original Whistler brought from England. and that it was being road tested in

anticipation of using it in through Boston-Providence service.

690

(D) – NYNH&H Railroad notice governing change to right-hand running

A full page "Special Notice" over the name of E. G. Allen, General Superintendent of the NYNH&H R. R. Old Colony

System, Providence, Plymouth, Taunton, Worcester, Northern and Cape Cod Divisions, dated 14 September 1895, reads:

To All Concerned:

Commencing at 12 o'clock NOON, on Sunday, September 22, 1895, all trains on Double Track will run on

the

RIGHT HAND TRACK

in the direction in which they are moving.

On the same day and hour, all semaphore signals (whether "Home," "Rear Home," "Advance," "Distant"

"Dwarf," "Yard" or "Special") will be discontinued. Notice of their resumption will be given by bulletin, until which

time trains will be governed by hand signals at interlocking points.

When the semaphore signals shall have been changed to the new positions, made necessary by the change

from left to right hand running, the arms to be regarded will be THOSE POINTING TO THE RIGHT, and

SINGLE LIGHTS will be used (instead of double lights as heretofore), white indicating "clear," red "stop," and green

"caution." The electric signals UPON DOUBLE AND THIRD TRACK will be discontinued on the same day and hour,

and notice of their resumption will also be given by bulletin.

During the discontinuance of the Electric Blocks, blue signals will be displayed at the several stations within

the Block System, as follows: Upon the passing of every train the agent will display the blue signal and keep it displayed

for ten (10) minutes, and any following train arriving within that time will proceed carefully, AS IF THE PRECEDING

TRAIN WERE KNOWN TO BE IMMEDIATELY IN ADVANCE, and will also keep a sharp lookout for similar blue

signals displayed by special flagmen at various curves and obscure places. When a train is running within two (2)

minutes of the previous train, the agents and special flagmen will exhibit red hand signals, AND WILL HOLD THE

FOLLOWING TRAIN UNTIL THE TWO (2) MINUTES SHALL HAVE ELAPSED.

Trains delayed or stopped upon the road must not rely upon these signals for protection, but must send back

their flagmen and OBSERVE THE FULL REQUIREMENTS OF RULE 99.

All leading [facing point] switches upon Double Track must be approached with great care, and, where the

view is obscure or limited, speed must be reduced until the way is seen to be clear.

At railroad crossings where semaphore signals are discontinued, all trains must make a "Know-Nothing" stop,

and then be governed by hand signals.

At railroad crossings, junctions and other interlocking points, trains will only proceed when motioned so to

do (by white signals) by the special flagmen. If not signalled, they will come to a FULL STOP at the points heretofore

required by the semaphore signals.

Until the bridge-guards can be changed to their new positions, freight trainmen must use more than ordinary

care and must bear in mind that the bridges are unguarded.

ATTACH THIS TO YOUR TIME TABLE

Employees will receipt for their copy of this promptly, on the envelope enclosing it, which they will return at

once.

691

Notes:

Following the above were the names of the six divisional superintendents, including C. A. McAlpine, Providence

Division, A. L. Ackley, Taunton Division, and L. N. Marshall, Northern Division. (Ackley's first name was Almerin.)

Note that the colors of signal lights differ from what we are accustomed to. "White" as a "clear" indication was

changed to "green" after a collision on the Old Colony at Taunton caused when the red roundel fell out of the spectacle

of a signal displaying a "stop" indication, exposing the white light behind it and causing the engineer of an approaching

train to think the signal was "clear." A similar accident happened at about the same time on another U. S. railroad.

The home signal was used to protect interlocked switches or a junction. The rear home signal was located "in rear of"

(before reaching) the home signal. The advance home signal was "in advance of" (after passing) the home signal and if at

a station was later sometimes called a starter signal. The distant signal was placed up to a mile in rear of the home signals

to provide the engineman with an early warning of their indications. Dwarf signals were low home signals governing

slow speed movements over switches. "Bridge guards" refers to the rope telltales warning of low overpasses.

This momentous directional changeover, so fraught with the danger of accidents, seems to have been planned,

approached and carried through with extraordinary professionalism and care, as I am not aware of any mishaps that

occurred as a result of the change.

692

(E) – Corporate chronologies of selected railroads

The similarity of corporate names of the incredible number of small railroads cram-jammed into southeastern New

England in the 19th century boggles the mind. Let's run some of them by, imagining that we see the names painted on the

sides of boxcars in a slowly passing freight train:

Boston & Providence Corp.; Boston & Providence Rail Road Corp.; Boston, Providence & Taunton Railroad Co.;

Boston & Providence Railroad & Transportation Co.; Boston & Providence Railroad & Transportation Co. of R. I.;

Boston & Providence Railroad Corp. of Mass.; Providence & Boston Railroad & Transportation Co. (I am still not sure

of that one, on which NHRAA 1940-52/2002, Alan M. Levitt and I do not see eye to eye!)

Then the Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg Railroad Co.; Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford Railroad Co. (C.

Fisher says that this full name understandably was never painted on any rolling stock); Boston, Fitchburg & New

Bedford Railroad Co. And the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Co.; Old Colony & Newport Railway Co.; Old Colony

Railroad Co.; Old Colony Railroad Corp. (#1); Old Colony Railroad Corp. (#2).

Followed by the Fall River & Warren Railroad Co. of Mass.; Warren & Fall River Railroad Co. of R. I.; Fall River

Branch Railroad Co.; Fall River Railroad Co. (#1); Fall River Railroad Co. (#2); Fall River, Warren & Providence

Railroad Co.; Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad Co.; Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad Co. of Mass.;

Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad Co. of R. I.; Providence & Bristol Railroad Co. of Mass.; Providence & Bristol

Railroad Co. of R. I.

And, a stand-alone gem in its own right, the “United Corp. of the Middleborough Railroad Corp. With the Fall River

Branch Railroad Co. and the Randolph & Bridgewater Railroad Corp.,” a name too long to be painted legibly on an entire train of 19th century boxcars. I could go on, but enough is enough. If you find errors in my index, this, in part, is

why!

These companies and corporations merged, they consolidated, they changed names with the adeptness of fugitive bank

robbers, they swallowed one another like sharks gulping down guppies. Some vanished without leaving a trace. Others

were created merely to smooth the path for the consolidation of other railroads. A few were stillborn. At least two, the

Boston, Wrentham & Providence [narrow-gauge] Railroad and the Foxborough Branch Railroad, never spiked a rail nor

turned a wheel, and another, the Seekonk Branch, was a political farce. Many were twin duplicates resulting from the

Balkan mind-set of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which, as if the Revolution had never freed them from their colonial

thinking, turned their mutual state line into something like an international barrier.

In what I hope is a not unsuccessful attempt to lessen the confusion surrounding the identities of these railroads, most

of which interfaced directly or indirectly with the Boston & Providence, I have compiled the following outline table,

drawn largely from NHRAA 1940-52/2002 with some additions of my own and others.

Attleborough Branch R. R. Co.:

8 Feb. 1867, chartered.

9 Jan. 1870, opens from Boston & Providence R. R. at Attleborough to North Attleborough.

31 Dec. 1870, leased to Boston & Providence R. R. for 30 years.

Boston & Providence Corp. (separate organization from Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. or Co.?):

12 July 1855, operates Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. at cost.

1860, operation of Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. ends.

693

Boston & Providence R. R. & Transportation Co.:

On or before 22 June 1831, formation authorized in R. I. and permission granted to build Seekonk R. bridge and

Providence terminal and to connect with Boston & Providence R. R. at state line. This authorization not acted

upon.

10 May 1834, name apparently changed to Providence & Boston R. R. & Transportation Co.

Boston & Providence R. R. & Transportation Co. of R. I.:

June 1853, R. I. legislature authorizes name change from Providence & Boston R. R. & Transportation Co.

and transfer of interests and books to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of Mass.

Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. or Co.:

1827?, chartered in Mass. to build horse-powered railway Boston to Providence.

29 Jan. 1828, engineer's report submitted to Mass. General Court.

1828, charter granted in R. I.

------, project suspended because too costly.

May 1831, incorporated in Mass.

22 June 1831, incorporated, granted charter and 30-year route monopoly in Mass. with authority to build

steam-powered r. r. from Boston to [former] R. I. state line at Seekonk, Mass., to connect with property of Boston

& Providence R. R. & Transportation Co.

11 July 1831, organized.

1832, franchise sold at public auction.

4 June 1834, opens "West Boston" (Pleasant St. sta.) to Readville.

12 Sept. 1834, opens Boston to Canton (now Canton Jct.), 15 miles.

1835, opens Dedham Branch, Readville to Dedham.

2 June 1835, first inspection trip (by horsepower) over entire line except Canton viaduct.

3 June 1835, acquires lease to Seekonk R. bridge and Providence India Pt. terminal from Providence & Boston

R. R. & Transportation Co.

11 June 1835, steam replaces horses between Providence and Canton.

15 June 1835, opens full length Boston-Providence except non-rail detour around Canton viaduct.

28 July 1835, opens full length Boston-Providence including Canton viaduct.

8 Aug. 1836, contracts with Taunton Branch R. R. Corp. for transport of freight and passengers Mansfield-

Boston.

9 Aug. 1839, acquires deed to Seekonk Branch R. R.

2 July 1840, agreement with New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp. to allow through operation to Boston via

Mansfield.

16 Mar. 1844, pact with Stoughton Branch R. R. Co. to operate that railroad from time of opening.

Post-28 May 1844, acquires mortgage of Stoughton Branch R. R. Co.

Mar. 1846, charter granted for "branch" cut-off East Jct. to West Jct. (now Boston Switch).

Oct. 1847, opens cut-off East Jct. to West Jct. and thence Providence.

3 May 1848, Providence Union Station opens; India Pt. becomes frt terminal.

June 1850, opens West Roxbury Branch, Forest Hills to Dedham.

16 May 1855, operates Easton Branch R. R. from opening.

694

6 Aug. 1855, acquires lease and assumes operation of Norfolk County R. R., leases Dorchester line.

2 Mar. 1857, operation of Norfolk County R. R. ends, Dorchester line leased to East Thompson R. R..

23 Sept. 1866, operation of Easton Branch R. R. ends.

18 Sept. 1869 or before, donates $15,000 to construction of Mansfield & Framingham R. R.

31 Dec. 1870, leases Attleborough Branch R. R. for 30 years.

Between 1871-1873, buys stock in Mansfield & Framingham R. R.

1873, buys stocks, bonds and equipment of Fall River, Warren & Providence R. R. Co.

4 Mar. 1873, merges with Stoughton Branch R. R. Co.

Pre-2 May 1873, bids unsuccessfully on Taunton Branch R. R.

6 Oct. 1873, takes over control of Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co.

4 Jan. 1875, opens Park Square terminal, Boston, abandons Pleasant St. sta.

1 June 1875 or before, sells interest in Mansfield & Framingham R. R. to Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R.

1875, with Old Colony R. R. Co. acquires majority of stock of Union Freight R. R. Co.

1 Dec. 1875, transfers Fall River, Warren & Providence R. R. to Old Colony R. R.

1 or 4 Apr. 1888, leased for 99 years to Old Colony R. R. Co.

Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of Mass.:

11 July 1831, organized.

3 June 1835, acquires lease to Seekonk R. bridge and India Pt. terminal from Providence & Boston R. R. &

Transportation Co.

1845 acquires capital stock of Providence & Boston R. R. & Transportation Co.

Boston & Taunton R. R. Corp.: June 1831, established in Mass.

Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co.:

17 Apr. 1867, chartered and incorporated in Mass., name change from and consolidation with former

Agricultural Branch R. R. Co.

1 July 1869, consolidates with Fitchburg & Worcester R. R. Co.

20 June 1870, leases Mansfield & Framingham R. R. Co. for 20 years.

1 Jan. 1872, extends Mansfield & Framingham R. R. Co. lease to 50 years.

1872, acquires Framingham & Lowell R. R.

On or before 1 June 1875, buys interest in Mansfield & Framingham R. R. from Boston & Providence R. R.

1 June 1875, consolidates with Mansfield & Framingham R. R. Co. under the name Boston, Clinton &

Fitchburg R. R. Co.

1 June 1876, consolidates with New Bedford R. R. Co. to form Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R.

Co.

Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R. Co.:

1 June 1876, formed by consolidation of New Bedford R. R. Co. and Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co.

Early 1879, leased by Old Colony R. R. Co. for 999 years.

10 Sept. 1881, buys at public auction Framingham & Lowell R. R. Co.

6 Mar. 1883, unites with Old Colony R. R. Co. under latter name.

695

Boston, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R. Co.:

11 Feb. 1873, chartered and incorporated in Mass. to consolidate New Bedford R. R. Co. and Boston, Clinton &

Fitchburg R. R. Co.

Boston, Providence & Taunton R. R. Corp.

3 Mar. 1830, bill in Mass. senate but apparently failed to pass. Succeeded by Boston & Providence R.-R.

Corp.and Boston & Taunton R. R. Corp.

Boston, Wrentham & Providence R. R.

1876, chartered; a narrow-gauge r. r.

1877, surveys and notification to landowners undertaken, but never completed.

Easton Branch R. R. Co.

3 Mar. 1854, chartered in Mass. to build from Stoughton Branch R. R. at Stoughton to North Easton.

16 May 1855, opens Stoughton to North Easton, 3.8 miles, operated from opening by Boston & Providence R. R.

Co.

23 Sept. 1866, operation by Boston & Providence R. R. Co. ends.

25 Sept. 1871, deeded to Old Colony & Newport Ry Co.

Fairhaven Branch R. R. Co.:

1 May 1849, chartered in Mass. to build from Fairhaven to Cape Cod R. R.

2 Oct. 1854, opens Fairhaven to Wareham, 15 miles.

1 July 1861, deeded to New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp.

Fall River & Warren R. R. Co. of Mass.:

17 Mar. 1857, chartered in Mass. to build from R. I. line in Swansea to Fall River and unite with Warren & Fall

River R. R. 2 July 1862, unites with Warren & Fall River R. R. Co. under name Fall River, Warren &

Providence R. R. Co.

Fall River Branch R. R. Co.:

14 Mar. 1844, chartered in Mass. to build from Fall River to New Bedford & Taunton R. R. at Myrick's or to

Taunton Branch R. R. at Taunton. 26 Mar. 1845, becomes part of United Corp. of Middleborough R. R. Corp.

With Fall River Branch R. R. and Randolph & Bridgewater R. R. Corp.

9 June 1845, opens Myrick's to Central St., Fall River, 10.8 miles.

16 Apr. 1846, name changed from United Corp. of the Middleborough R. R. Corp. With the Fall River Branch

R. R. Co. and the Randolph & Bridgewater R. R. Co. to Fall River R. R. Co. (#1).

Fall River R. R. Co. (#1):

16 Apr. 1846, chartered in Mass., name changed from United Corp. of Middleborough R. R. Corp. With Fall

River Branch R. R. Co. and Randolph & Bridgewater R. R. Corp.

21 Dec. 1846, opens South Braintree to Myrick‟s and Central St., Fall River, to Steamboat Wharf, c30.5 miles.

25 Mar. 1854, consolidates with Old Colony R. R. Corp. (#2) to form Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co.

30 June 1854, unites with Old Colony R. R. Corp. (#2) under name Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co.

Fall River R. R. Co. (#2):

19 Nov. 1874, chartered in Mass. to build from Fall River to line of New Bedford R. R. at New Bedford.

16 Dec. 1875, opens from Watuppa St. to near Mt. Pleasant in New Bedford, 12.4 miles.

1 Apr. 1882, leased to Old Colony R. R. Co. for 90 years.

696

Fall River, Warren & Providence R. R. Co.:

2 July 1862, formed from name change and union of Fall River & Warren R. R. Co. and Warren & Fall River

R. R. Co.

3 Apr. 1865, opens Warren to Brayton Pt., c5.8 miles.

6 Oct. 1873, stocks, bonds and equipment sold to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp.

1 Dec. 1875, transferred to Old Colony R. R. Co.

Foxborough Branch R. R. Co.:

26 Apr. 1862, chartered in Mass. to build from jct of Taunton Branch R. R. and Boston & Providence R. R. at

Mansfield to Walpole at some point of Midland (later New England) R. R. 18 Mar. 1867, taken over by

Mansfield & Framingham R. R. Co.

Lowell & Framingham R. R. Co.:

31 Mar. 1881, chartered in Mass. to bring about combination of Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R.

Co. and Framingham & Lowell R. R. Co.

Mansfield & Framingham R. R. Co.:

18 Mar. 1867, chartered in Mass., takes over and changes name of Foxborough Branch R. R. Co., authorized to

build from Walpole to Agricultural Branch R. R. at Framingham.

Pre-18 Sept. 1869, $15,000 donated toward construction by Boston & Providence R. R. Corp.

18 Sept. 1869, opens Mansfield to Foxborough.

1 May 1870, opens Foxborough to Framingham.

20 June 1870, leased to Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co. for 20 years.

31 Dec. 1870, opens from South Framingham to Framingham Center, c1 mile.

Between 1871 and 1873, Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. buys $15,000 worth of stock.

1 Jan. 1872, lease to Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co. extended to 50 years.

7 Apr. 1873, bill to extend railroad parallel to Taunton Branch R. R. from Mansfield to Taunton rejected by Mass.

General Court.

Pre-1 June 1875, Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. sells interest to Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co.

1 June 1875, name change, consolidates with Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co. under the latter name.

New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp.:

26 Mar. 1839, chartered in Mass., name change from Old Colony R. R. Corp. (#1).

2 July 1840, opens New Bedford to Taunton, operating agreements with Taunton Branch R. R. Corp. and

Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. to enable through operation to Boston via Mansfield.

16 Apr. 1847, acquires rights with Taunton Branch R. R. Corp. to Weir Branch R. R.

1 July 1861, acquires deed to Fairhaven Branch R. R. Co.

1 Aug. 1871 or soon after, acquires deed to Chartley branch railroad Attleborough to Attleborough Jct. from

Taunton Branch R. R. Corp., c8.5 miles.

20 Mar. 1873, deeded to New Bedford R. R. Co.

697

New Bedford R. R. Co.:

11 Feb. 1873, chartered in Mass. to effect consolidation of railroads between New Bedford and Fitchburg.

20 Mar. 1873, acquires deed to New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Co.

Pre-2 May 1873, bids on Taunton Branch R. R. Corp.

1 July 1873, opens Wamsutta St. to Steamboat Wharf, New Bedford, c1 mile.

16 Jan. 1874, consolidates with Taunton Branch R. R. Corp. under name New Bedford R. R. Co.

1 June 1876, consolidates with Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R. Co. to form Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New

Bedford R. R. Co.

Newport & Fall River R. R. Co.:

8 May 1846, chartered in R. I. to build from Newport to Mass. state line connecting with Fall River Branch R. R.

25 Apr. 1862, unites with Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co. into Old Colony & Newport Ry Co.

3 Aug. 1863, name changed to Old Colony & Newport Ry Co.

New-York, Providence & Boston R. R. Co. (“Stonington”): 14 May 1832, the New York & Stonington R. R. Co. chartered in Conn. To build from Stonington to R. I.

state line.

23 June 1832, New-York, Providence & Boston R. R. Co. chartered and incorporated in R. I. to build from

Providence to Conn. state line.

23 Jan. 1833, New-York, Providence & Boston R. R. Co. organized.

1 July 1833, New-York, Providence & Boston R. R. Co. and New York & Stonington R. R. Co. join.

10 Nov. 1837, completed from Hill‟s Wharf, Providence, to Stonington Wharf, Conn. Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co.:

25 Mar. 1854, chartered in Mass. to effect consolidation of Old Colony R. R. Corp. (#2) and Fall River R. R. Co.

(#1).

30 June 1854, formed from union of Fall River R. R. Co.(#1) and Old Colony R. R. Corp. (#2).

25 Apr. 1862, unites with Newport & Fall River R. R. Co. into Old Colony & Newport Ry Co.

3 Aug. 1863, name change to Old Colony & Newport Ry Co.

Old Colony & Newport Railway Co.:

25 Apr. 1862, chartered in Mass. to effect union of Newport & Fall River R. R. Co. with Old Colony & Fall

River R. R. Co. (The company's seal carries the date 5 Aug. 1863.)

3 Aug. 1863, formed from union of Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co. with Newport & Fall River R. R. Co.

1 Feb. 1864 (W. Mitchell 1973; NHRAA 1940-52/2002 says 5 Feb. 1864), officially opens Central St., Fall

River, to Newport, 19 miles (not regularly opened until Dec. 1864).

Dec. 1864, opens for regular operation Central St., Fall River, to Newport.

25 Sept. 1871, acquires deed to Easton Branch R. R. Co.

27 Mar. 1872, name changed to Old Colony R. R. Co.

698

Old Colony R. R. Co. (This company is distinct from Old Colony R. R. Corp. [#1] and [#2]):

27 Mar. 1872, chartered in Mass. from union of Old Colony & Newport Ry Co. and Cape Cod R. R. Co.

1 Oct. 1872, formed by name change from Old Colony & Newport Ry Co.

Pre-2 May 1873, bids on Taunton Branch R. R. Corp.

1875, with Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. acquires majority of stock of Union Freight R. R. Co.

1 Dec. 1875, acquires Fall River, Warren & Providence R. R. Co. by transfer from Boston & Providence R.-R.

Corp.

Early 1879, leases Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R. Co. for 999 years.

1 Apr. 1882, acquires lease to Fall River R. R. Co. (#2) for 90 years.

6 Mar. 1883, unites with Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R. Co. under name Old Colony R. R. Co.

27 Feb. 1886, consolidates with Lowell & Framingham R. R. Co.

1 or 4 Apr. 1888, leases Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of Mass. for 99 years.

Old Colony R. R. Corp. (1):

13 Apr. 1838, chartered and incorporated in Mass. to build from terminus of Taunton Branch R. R. in Taunton to

New Bedford.

26 Mar. 1839, name changed to New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp.

Old Colony R. R. Corp. (2):

16 Mar. 1844, chartered in Mass. to build from South Boston to Plymouth.

10 Nov. 1845, opens South Boston to Plymouth, 36.8 miles.

19 June 1847, opens extension South Boston to Kneeland St. terminal, 1/4 mile.

25 Mar. 1854, consolidates with Fall River R. R. Co. (#1) to form Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co.

30 June 1854, unites with Fall River R. R. Co. (#1) under name of Old Colony & Fall River R. R. Co.

Providence & Boston R. R. Co.:

1831, chartered in R. I.

Providence & Boston R. R. & Transportation Co.:

10 May 1834, apparent name change from Boston & Providence R. R. & Transportation Co., chartered in R. I. to

build Seekonk R. bridge and Providence India Pt. terminal station plus warehouses and waterfront facilities

and to connect with Boston & Providence R. R. at state line in Seekonk.

9 Aug. 1834, organized.

1834-39, pays dividends equal to those of Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of Mass.

Pre-3 June 1635, completes Seekonk R. bridge and Providence India Pt. terminal.

3 June 1835, leases Seekonk R. bridge and Providence India Pt. terminal to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of

Mass.

1845, transfers capital stock to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of Mass., keeps separate books until June

1853.

June 1853, authorized by R. I. legislature to change name to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. of R. I. and

transfer interests and books to Boston & Providence R. R. Corps.

Providence & Bristol R. R. Co. of Mass.:

23 May 1851, chartered in Mass. to build from R. I. line near India Pt. through Seekonk to R. I. line.

24 Mar. 1853, name changed to Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co. of Mass.

699

Providence & Bristol R. R. Co. of R. I.:

Oct. 1850, incorporated by the R. I. General assembly.

1 Nov. 1850, chartered in R. I. to build from Providence to Mass. state line near east shore Seekonk R. and from

north line of Barrington to Warren and Bristol. 25 June 1852, name changed to Providence, Warren & Bristol

R. R. Co. of R. I.

Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co. of Mass.:

24 Mar. 1853, name changed from Providence & Bristol R. R. Co. of Mass.

9 July 1853, organized.

16 Nov. 1854, unites with Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co. of R. I. to form Providence, Warren &

Bristol R. R. Co.

Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co. of R. I.:

25 June 1852, name changed from Providence & Bristol R. R. Co. of R. I.

16 Nov. 1854, unites with Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co. of Mass. to form Providence, Warren &

Bristol R. R. Co.

Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co.:

16 Nov. 1854, formed from union of Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. Co. of Mass. and Providence, Warren &

Bristol R. R. Co. of R. I.

12 July 1855, operated by Boston & Providence Corp. (a separate organization from Boston & Providence R. R.

Corp.?) at cost.

1860, operation by Boston & Providence Corp. ends.

6 Oct. 1873, control taken over by Boston & Providence R. R. Corp.

28 Nov. 1887 (or 1 July 1891?), leased to Old Colony R. R. Co. (This line later electrified with passenger service

provided by street railway-type equipment.)

Seekonk Branch R. R. Co.:

16 Apr, 1836, chartered in Mass. to build from Old Wharf Pt. on east side Seekonk R. through Rocky Pt. to jct

with Boston & Providence R. R., name changed from West Boston & East Providence R. R. Co.

21 June 1836, organized.

9 Aug. 1839, deeded to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp.

“Stonington” r. r.: see New-York, Providence & Boston.

Stoughton Branch R. R. Co.:

16 Mar. 1844, chartered in Mass. to build from Boston & Providence R. R. at Canton (now Canton Jct.) to

Stoughton.

28 May 1844, organized.

Post-28 May 1844, mortgaged to Boston & Providence R. R. Corp.

7 Apr. 1845, opens Canton (later Canton Jct) to Stoughton, operated by Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. under

operating pact.

4 Mar. 1873, merges into Boston & Providence R. R. Corp.

700

Taunton Branch R. R. Corp.:

7 Apr. 1835, chartered in Mass. to build from Taunton to junction with Boston & Providence R. R. at

Mansfield.

1835, organized, joint stock company formed.

c1836, route changed to connect at Mansfield 1/2 mile north of previously planned junction.

8 Aug. 1836, opens Taunton to Mansfield, contracts with Boston & Providence R. R. Corp. for transport of

freight and passengers between Mansfield and Boston.

2 July 1840 or after, operating agreement with New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp. and Boston & Providence

R. R. Corp. to run through trains to Boston via Mansfield.

16 Apr. 1847, acquires rights with New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp. to Weir Branch R. R.

c1867, begins construction of Chartley branch railroad, Attleborough to Attleborough Jct (in Taunton),

c8.5 miles.

1 Aug. 1871, opens Chartley branch railroad.

1 Aug. 1871 or after, deeds Chartley branch railroad to New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp.

16 Jan. 1874, consolidates with New Bedford R. R. Co. under latter name.

United Corp. of Middleborough R. R. Corp. With Fall River Branch R. R. Co. and Randolph & Bridgewater R. R. Corp.:

26 Mar. 1845, chartered in Mass. as union of the three above companies.

16 Apr. 1846, name changed to Fall River R. R. Co.

Warren & Fall River R. R. Co. of R. I.:

30 May 1856, chartered in R. I. to build from Warren to Mass. state line and unite with Mass. company

empowered to build from R. I. state line to Fall River. 2 July 1862, unites with Fall River & Warren R. R. Co.

under name Fall River, Warren & Providence R. R. Co.

Weir Branch R. R.:

16 Apr. 1847, chartered in Mass. to build from Weir Village to Old Brewery Wharf, in Taunton; rights

transferred to New Bedford & Taunton R. R. Corp. and Taunton Branch R. R. Corp.

1847, built Weir Village to Old Brewery Wharf, 5000 ft.

Post-1872, entire line discontinued.

West Boston & East Providence R.R.:

28 Mar. 1836, permission to form company requested of Mass. General Court.

16 Apr. 1836, name changed to Seekonk Branch R. R. Co.

701

(F) – Providence & Boston Rail Road & Transportation Company

I admit to a considerable amount of confusion and even doubt surrounding those apparent Siamese twins, the Boston &

Providence Rail Road & Transportation Co. and the Providence & Boston Rail Road & Transportation Co., and for once

the erudite Alan Levitt and his edited version of the Chronological history of the New Haven Railroad 1760-1951 are of

no help.

I have found only two references to Providence & Boston Rail Road & Transportation Co. The first is in Bayles

(1891), who, after writing that in 1834 the Rhode Island segment of the Boston & Providence was called the “Boston & Providence Railroad and Transportation Company,” seems to contradict himself later on when he says, “In June, 1853, the clumsy and inconvenient organization of the company as two separate concerns was done away with by an act of the

Rhode Island legislature, providing that the Providence & Boston Railroad Transportation Company [sic–no “and” between the fourth and fifth words] should be named the Boston & Providence Railroad Corporation, and that it should

unite with the Massachusetts corporation . . . .”

The second reference is in Greene (1953: 1), who comments, "R. I would put Providence first in the name." (Somehow

I find this believable.) But Francis (in Dubiel 1974: 4) gives the name as Boston and Providence Transportation

Company" and states it was chartered in May 1834.

Levitt writes (pers. comm. 2003):

I have not seen the Providence and Boston . . . arrangement. All the entries in the Chronological History

[NHRAA 1940-52/2002] are Boston first, then Providence. Cornwall lists a "Providence & Boston Railroad [sic]

that [was] chartered in Rhode Island in 1831, but the railroad which actually opened service between the cities

was the Boston & Providence." Thomas Richard Thompson's Check List of Publications on American Railroads

Before 1841 lists three documents related to the Boston and Providence Railroad and Transportation Company. In

the precis of each of these, the (only) sequence shown is "Boston and Providence." If "Providence and Boston"

had been listed in the document, it would be indicated in the precis. Surprising, there is no listing, in Thompson,

of the 1831 Providence and Boston charter.

That said, it would not surprise me to find "Providence and Boston . . ." in an official or legal context. A visit

to the registry of deeds or other state record office in Providence might assist in untangling matters, but that must

be left for younger researchers than I.

702

(G) – "Slip carriages" on British railways

In British railway practice, passenger cars subject to being separated out of their train on the fly (as was the practice at

Mansfield in the 1870s) are known as "slip carriages." Alan M. Levitt (pers. comm. 2003) sheds considerable light on

this across-the-sea custom:

Your description of the "Slip Carriages" at Mansfield came as a surprise to me! I had not been aware of this practice

here in the U. S. Slip carriages were introduced in Britain in 1858 by the London, Brighton and South Coast, the

South Eastern, and the Great Western railways, and remained an operating practice until September 1960, when the

last slip coach was operated (by the Great Western). In 1914, there were over 200 slip coach services; one train

carried 11 slip carriages that were "dropped" in three separate slips. The "slip carriages" were used not only to

provide services to intermediate stations without impacting the overall timing of trains, but were also used to lighten

the train to keep the load within the limits allowed over a particular stretch of the line.

The Great Western Railway General Appendix to the Rule Book provides some insight into the operation of slip

carriages. In the issue for August 1st, 1936, the single lever at the basis of the Working is described. "The operation

of slipping is performed by the use of one lever (with three positions)." This lever is manipulated by the Slip Guard.

After the driver slows the entire train slightly (at a point designated by a line-side marker), the Slip Guard moves the

lever in the Slip Carriage that is attached to the main portion of the train. This Slip Carriage might be "single" or the

fore-most carriage in a multicarriage Slip Portion.

“This (initial) motion releases the slip hook (coupling on the slip carriage) on the Slip Portion, and applies the

vacuum [continuous] brake, and causes the Slip Portion to immediately fall-away from the main train, and for the

[vacuum and train heating] hose pipes to be pulled apart. The vacuum on the main train is automatically sealed by a

spring valve when the pipes are separated.

"The Guard has it in his power, by manipulating the lever . . . , to apply and release the [vacuum] brake at will."

The early slip carriages were slowed and brought to a halt by the Guard manipulating a hand break. The train driver,

when passing another line-side marker, is prompted to resume normal speed.

The Slip Portion remained coupled to the train in the ordinary way by the screw coupling of the slip coach until

the train arrived at the last station of which it was booked regularly to stop prior to passing the station where the Slip

Portion was to be detached. At that point, the coupling was adjusted, and placed in the slip hook.

Slip Carriages were "fitted with warning bells worked by a foot lever placed in such a position that it can be

readily operated while at the same time leaving the Slip Guard's hands quite free to manipulate the slipping lever" in

order that the Slip Guard might, after slipping, give warning of the approach of slip vehicles upon entering stations

and before passing Level Crossings. . . .

Bradshaw's always indicated instances where a train would serve a station by a "carriage slipped." Such

indications might have been prompted by the concern to provide the most minute details related to train running, or

703

as fair warning to passengers for the particular station to travel in the designated carriages, or to provide intending

travellers to seek another train if they felt a bit uncomfortable about the modus operandi.

If the slip portion at Mansfield had been fitted with warning bells, Skinner's milk cart and his thumb possibly

could have avoided detriment. This maneuver as performed by the Boston & Providence Rail Road at Mansfield

(and perhaps other junctions?) was no doubt simplified in typical informal Yankee fashion by the fact that screw

couplings and steam heat hoses were not used in the U. S. at that time, and the "breaks" were applied by the strong-

arm method. Whether the American "running switch" practice was inspired by a railroad official who had observed

or heard of "slipping" in Mother England is not clear to me.

704

(H) – Those mysterious kilometer posts

In researching and writing this monograph I have encountered three thus-far unsolved mysteries: (1) The origin and

ownership of the engine Whistler before it was acquired by Boston and Providence; (2) the rationale behind the use of

British coinage for accounting and payroll purposes by B&P; and (3) the purpose and date of the kilometer posts known

to have been placed along the B&P right of way. Of these three mysteries, the third is perhaps the most tantalizing.

Physical evidence: We know that kilometer posts were set along the railroad, because five and perhaps six have been

identified and at least four still exist, as follows:

B.

18

Km.

11.18

M.

The above post stands just east of Bussey bridge in Roslindale on the West Roxbury loop, abandoned about 1940 (R.

Fleischer pers. comm. 2006). The mileage to Boston does not relate to the post‟s location, leading to the assumption that it has been moved from its original place, which even if measured by way of the West Roxbury-Dedham loop must have

been on the main line south of Readville. (It should be remembered that main line mileages measured from Boston began

at Pleasant Street Station, about 1.13 mile south of the present South Station.) See photo in Sweeney 2006: 24.

B.

48

Km

29.82

M.

The next (depicted above) is situated on the Dedham Branch and was reported by Jim Zwicker (NH Newsletter,

NHRHS, issue 66, Oct. 1982), the response of the editor being, “The usage of such distance indicators is news to us.” The mileage to Boston seems to indicate that this post stood originally on the main line about 0.4 mile south of West

Mansfield station, and was moved afterward (but why?) to its present location. In May 2006 it was seen by R. Fleischer

and L. Schneider and photographed by one of them. It stands only about 2-1/2 feet tall and is situated on the south side of

the former right-of-way about halfway between River St. and Walnut St. Bridges, near the site of the former East

Dedham station.

705

Prov.

68

Km.

42.25

M.

A third (above) is about 0.4 mile south of Spring Street and about 3.62 miles from Forest Hills (mileages from New

Haven R. R. employes‟ timetable 1921), also on the abandoned West Roxbury branch, between West Roxbury and Dedham. This post has been investigated by R. Fleischer and photographed by E. J. Sweeney, and in June 2006 by R.

Fleischer and L Schneider. Schneider has calculated (pers. comm. 2006) that from Forest Hills to Providence is 38.63

miles, thus the kilo-post is located 42.25 miles from Providence via Forest Hills, where a run-around move would be

required for any train operating between the two points. This post would seem to be in its original location, but if so

could not have been placed prior to 1850 when the loop was opened for service. Fleischer notes, “The 42.25 miles from West Roxbury to Providence would not have made sense from an operating perspective, but may have been correct from

a legal one.” The Dedham Branch, though built by Boston and Providence, was for some reason operated as if a separate financial, legal and accounting entity until almost mid-19th century, so the same may have been the case with the West

Roxbury loop.

Prov.

38

Km.

23.61

M

The above post formerly stood near Sharon Heights on the B&P main line, apparently in its original location. This was

photographed by Lewis Walter (NH Newsletter, NHRHS, issue 68, Dec. 1982). The newsletter editor quotes Walter that

the photo was “taken just after [New Haven R. R. President] Buck Dumaine had the original markings painted on the posts to emphasize them. He also states that this post is the only one he saw personally on the main line; and also never

saw any on the Stoughton or Dedham branch although these routes were also built by the Boston & Providence.

However on the branch from East Junction out of Attleboro [i.e., the original 1836-1848 main line], many of the posts

were the original B&P style and metric all the way to the Red Bridge . . . . It seems that the post at Sharon was removed

when [NH president] McGinnis took over [in 1954], so it‟s possible they were removed system-wide at that time . . . .” The post as shown in the photo appears to have been painted white from the top to within a few inches or a foot of

ground level, the inscription painted black.

There was a fifth post, seen some years ago by Alan Pommer (evidence of R. Fleischer 2006), near the vicinity of

Canterbury Street overpass in Clarendon Hills , as below:

706

B.

11

Km.

6.82

M.

A sixth post is in Readville near the intersection of West Milton St. and Sprague St., in a flower bed.

Prov.

32

Km.

19.88

M.

This post was moved recently to its present location. In Aug. 2008 M. Fitzhenry, who grew up near the Readville

shops, stated that this post previously had been situated next to the north side of the pier supporting the two spans of the

old Sprague St. Bridge, now demolished. The railroad track nearest the post was the lead into the locomotive shop, and

the inscription on the post faced that track, the car shop leads, and the “Midway.” In 2006 R. Fleischer and L. Schneider visited the Sprague St. bridge following a report of a kilometer post at Readville near the Dedham branch, but due to the

location of the post under the bridge, they did not see it. During construction of the new Sprague St. bridge, Fleischer

was informed that the post was lying on its side on wood blocks on a lower level under the bridge. Fitzhenry confirmed

that this post is the same one now situated in the street level flower bed. (R. Fleischer pers. comm. 2008.)

The distance of 19.88 miles from Providence Union Station would place the original location of the post about 1.0

mile north (present “east”) of Mansfield station. When and why it was removed to Readville is not known

These kilometer posts, to judge from the one marked “Prov. 68 (etc.),” are of granite, about 12 inches square, standing about 5 feet above ground, set cornerwise to the right-of-way. The stone is rather rough-hewn, the drill holes where it

was cut from the parent rock visible along its edges, but the face where the inscription occurs has been ground relatively

smooth. Assuming that the posts extend at least 3 feet below ground to get below the winter frost line, they are probably

8 feet long and would weigh about 1350 pounds. (This raises the question: Were they cut when it was contemplated

using granite crossties and then used for kilo-posts when the decision was made to go to wooden ties?)

An exception may be the “B. 48" stone at East Dedham, which stands only about 30 inches above ground, but may

have been partly buried by filling of the old right-of-way.

We know that these markers are not mileposts converted to metric because the kilometer distances are whole numbers

and the equivalent mileages are in decimals.

707

Historical evidence in favor of the granite kilo-posts having been set by Capt. McNeill: I have seen no primary source

that refers to the origin or rationale of the B&P kilometer posts. The only source (and that one secondary) that I have

found is Harlow (1946: 107), who claims it was railroad-builder Capt. McNeill who set the kilo-posts on B&P,

presumably at or immediately following the time of construction, 1832-35. This assumption, considering McNeill‟s West Point background and his research in England, seems reasonable, until one considers the evidence to the contrary

(below).

If, as Walter says, kilo-posts were used on the old India Point main line, which after 1848 became secondary trackage,

this might indicate that the B&P used them from the beginning.

Historical evidence opposed to the kilo-posts having been set by Capt. McNeill: Clearly the Spring Street post (Prov.

68 Km, etc.) was set in or after 1850, because the West Roxbury branch was not opened until that year. Thus even if

McNeill initiated the use of metrics on B&P, not all the kilo-posts were set by him; the practice was continued for at least

15 years after the main line opened for business in 1835.

If McNeill was enamored of metrics, it is odd that his 1 June 1834 report on Canton viaduct is expressed entirely in

feet and fractions thereof, even, in a few cases, inches. Perhaps this was because the report was addressed to an anti-

metric board of directors, or was influenced by the fact that the construction people, Dodd & Baldwin, were not

conversant with metrics and their on-the-job foremen would not want to work with meters. But the report also makes it

obvious that the entire B&P survey was laid out in feet. McNeill writes that the viaduct “shall commence at a point 10.5 feet northeast of station 670, of the centre line of the Boston and Providence Rail Road . . . .” The “670" means 67,000 feet (12.69 miles) from the zero point of measurements; thus the north end of the viaduct was to be located at 66,989.5

feet from zero. (This zero would be at the present Prentiss Street underpass in Roxbury, about 1.47 mile from Pleasant

Street Station.) This system of measuring is still used by highway and railroad civil engineers and surveyors. In addition,

the plan and profile McNeill submitted to the directors in April 1832 was drawn to a scale of 80 rods (1/4 mile) to the

inch (this may have been a State requirement), and he describes curves in feet radius.

Why, on the posts, is “Boston” abbreviated “B” but “Providence” is “Prov.”? Why not simply “B” and “P”? Or “Bost” and “Prov.”? Can the inconsistency be explained by the possibility that the posts were set in or after 1848 when B&P first opened a station, Pawtucket, that might be mistaken for Providence if abbreviated “P”? Or is this too a mere whim

of the civil engineers or directors or of the stone cutter?

An even stronger reason for rejecting the idea that McNeill set kilo-posts at the beginning is the fact that every early

traveler on B&P refers to miles and not kilometers. A Dedham newspaper says that on 4 June 1834, passengers “were conveyed some three or four miles, out and back” from Dedham Low Plains (Readville). A Boston paper, speaking of the same run, says that the railroad opened “for ten miles from Boston.” A Providence reporter tells of a trip made 7 June

1834, “the distance (ten miles) being performed in twenty three minutes” and that “for sixteen miles the road is dead level. To the Sprague House the road rises only twenty eight feet in ten miles . . . .” Isaac Stearns on 12 Sep. 1834, riding

the first regular train scheduled to meet the boat passengers arriving by stage at Canton, writes, “Started from Boston . . . , went within one mile of Stone factory in Canton, 15 miles in 33 minutes.” In June 1835 a Providence reporter states that

“16-1/2 miles of this road are in a perfectly straight line,” and that the train from Boston arrived “exactly at the fifteen mile stone, having come fifteen miles at the rate of 30 miles per hour, two of the miles which we passed over in three

minutes forty seconds, and one mile in one minute and forty-seven seconds . . . .” Without question, these timings were made by a man with watch in hand, counting mileposts as the train passed them! (But these two references to 15 miles at

708

Canton are questionable; Boston to Canton was only 13.8 miles.)

Not only were there mileposts, but, in the beginning, gradient posts. The railroad official logging the performance tests

of the engine Whistler between Boston and Canton in February and March 1835 refers to beginnings and ends of

“planes,” that is, changes in gradients, which must have been indicated by numbered posts beside the track – 16 planes

between Roxbury car house and Canton. Besides this, he gives distances in miles and feet (in one case 10,000 feet), and

grades in feet per mile.

And what of the European, Gerstner, who visited B&P in 1839. Surely he knew of the metric system and would have

taken notice of kilometer posts along this foreign railroad. But, no! – He gives distances in miles, grades in feet per mile,

and the drawings in his volume, though labeled in German, use graphic scales graduated in miles (“Meilen”) and

“English feet” (“engl. Fuss.”)!

Rationale for kilometer posts: Why kilo-posts at all? Did any other railroad in the U. S. use them? There is no record

that they were used on the “Stonington” railway which McNeill engineered. What practical use were they? Would not track foremen and locomotive engineers, who thought in terms of feet or miles or miles per hour, have had difficulty

using or even understanding them? Is it reasonable to suppose that McNeill‟s sojourn in England resulted in his preference for metrics? Not likely, because the system was not commonly in use there. Did he learn the preference at

West Point? Or was it a personal whim, a hobby-horse that he rode in hopes of pressing this better system on a backward

world?

Is it possible that the kilo-posts were set in or after 1844 at the request of or to conform to the U. S. Coast Survey

which was using the tangent track between Mansfield and Dodgeville as part of a triangulation survey?

709

(I) – Biographical sketches

William Gibbs McNeill

William Gibbs McNeill was born in the important North Carolina seaport town of Wilmington 3 Oct. 1800, the son of

Dr. Daniel McNeill and Martha Kingsley, and was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1817. (In

those days people got off to fast starts in life!) From 1817 to 1823 he served on topographical duty in the engineer corps.

He became a second lieutenant of artillery 1 Mar. 1818, first lieutenant 1819. Upon the reorganization of the army in

1822 he was commissioned first lieutenant of the First Artillery, but in Jan. 1823 was transferred to the Corps of

Topographical Engineers and breveted a captain. He led one of three teams that in 1824-26 surveyed routes for the

summit division of the proposed Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and in 1827 performed engineering work on the Kanawha,

James and Roanoke Rivers. In 1827 McNeill was detached from the Corps and with Stephen H. Long and William

Howard served on a board charged with selecting a route for the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. This engineering party left

Baltimore 2 July 1827, on which date "an examination of the country was commenced under the direction of Lieutenant

Colonel Stephen H. Long and Captain William G. McNeill, United States Topographic Engineers," plus First Lieut. G. W.

Whistler and others. These men, described in the company proceedings as "Chiefs of Brigade," assisted by Isaac

Ridgeway Trimble and others, determined that the best westward route for B&O followed the Patapsco Valley

(Appletons Encyc. 1886, Vose 1886). On 7 July 1828 the engineer corps under McNeill and three others began the

location of the Baltimore & Ohio, working west from the “First Stone” in Baltimore (Baer 2005). In Oct. 1828 the B&O appointed McNeill as the fourth member of the Board of Engineers at a salary of $3000 per

year. It was the custom at that time for officers to be loaned for the furtherance of various public works, and on 6 Oct.

1828 the army, at the special request of the B&O R. R., directed McNeill, Whistler, Jonathan Knight and one other to go

to Great Britain to examine the railways there, providing them with a long list of specific questions to investigate. They

left for England on 28 Oct., passage having been arranged by Alex. Brown & Sons and their Liverpool branch, William

and James Brown. Later that same year McNeill was one of six surveyors, again including Whistler, named in an

engineers' report on the reconnaissance of the B&O; these men joined afterward in the construction of the railroad.

McNeill and Whistler were transferred by the army in 1829 to conduct surveys for the Baltimore & Susquehanna R. R.,

later Northern Central.

McNeill now and then showed a cantankerous side; on 4 Jan. 1830, as a result of his and Col. Stephen H. Long‟s objections to Superintendent of Construction Caspar W. Wever, the B&O board abolished the Board of Engineers and

established an Engineering Department with Jonathan Knight as Chief Engineer; however, the army engineers remained

assigned to the B&O. Gen. Charles Gratiot of the Corps of Engineers on 13 Mar. 1830 relieved Capt. McNeill‟s “brigade” from service on the B&O, while allowing Long to stay. But five days later Gratiot reversed himself, writing to

McNeill that he was to stay on the B&O, as Long had asked to be relieved. McNeill, however, refused to serve on the

B&O under Knight after a dispute over the refusal of the B&O to fire Wever. One source claims that McNeill built the

famed Thomas viaduct, but I have seen no substantiation for this.

710

The army on 10 June 1830 withdrew McNeill and 1st Lieut. Whistler from the B&O and assigned them to survey the

Baltimore & Susquehanna R. R.; on 16 Oct. McNeill, Whistler and one other made a report on the survey of the B&S,

construction of which had begun in 1829, and McNeill became chief engineer in charge of building the line, a position he

held until 1836; B&S opened to the public 4 July 1831and evolved into the Northern Central, later part of the

Pennsylvania R. R. (Sci. Am. Suppl. 26 Mar. 1887).

At the Dec. 1830 session of the Maryland legislature there was read a "Communication from Messrs. Howard and

McNeill in reply to a request from the [Maryland] Committee on Internal Improvement, in accordance with the order of

the House of Delegates to ascertain the cost and advantages of a railroad from Baltimore to Washington, to be made by

the State" (Md. State Archives). McNeill became chief engineer more or less simultaneously of a number of railroads,

including the Paterson & Hudson River 1831-34, Boston & Providence 1832-35 and New-York, Providence & Boston

(“Stonington”) 1832-37. Of the latter, Gerstner (1842-43/1997: 333) says, "As far as layout and construction are

concerned, the Stonington Railroad can be considered superior in every respect, and it is generally regarded as one of the

best in the United States." He was the first engineer-surveyor of the Boston & Lowell R. R. 1829-30. Working with

engineer James Laurie, McNeill in 1832 surveyed and laid out the Norwich & Worcester R. R. (Turner and Jacobus

1986: 38), work on which began in 1835 and which opened for regular service in 1840.

McNeill in 1833 was given the rank of brevet major on the staff of the Topographical Engineers; W. W. Woolsey,

president of Boston & Providence, in a letter written 13 Nov. 1836 refers to him as “Major McNeill.” At the start of 1834 he was living in Dedham, Mass. In 1835 he is listed sometimes as chief engineer, at other times consulting engineer, of

Western R. R. In 1836-37 McNeill, Whistler and Capt. William H. Swift submitted an engineers' report on the Western

R. R., later the Boston & Albany west of Worcester; McNeill is senior author of this document, published in 1838, and he

continued to serve as a consultant until 1840. In 1837, he and Whistler took time out to survey the Concord (N. H.) R. R.

From railroad-building, McNeill next was given charge of the examination of the coasts of North and South Carolina.

He resigned from the army in 1837 to become chief engineer of the state of Georgia, and from 1837 to 1840 surveyed a

route from Charleston, S. C., to Louisville and thence to Cincinnati. By now he was recognized as one of the foremost

railroad engineers in the country and was much sought after, being able to name his own price. He was hired by the

Western R. R. as their resident engineer, and brought aboard Whistler, who did most of the actual surveying for that line;

their joint report to the directors contains 120 pages detailing their work through the rough country of western Mass. and

includes large folded maps. By 1839 McNeill was chief engineer in charge of building the Louisville, Cincinnati &

Charleston R. R. (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 718). He and Whistler served as engineers of the Albany & West Stockbridge

R.-R. Co. and authored a report to the directors in 1840 (McNeill and Whistler 1842).

McNeill was commissioned a major general (explaining the note "later Major General" by Gerstner 1842-43/1997:

825) of the Rhode Island militia during Thomas Wilson Dorr's rebellion in 1842 and commanded the state troops during

that abortive uprising. But it appears that the highest U. S. military rank held by McNeill was major. In Dec. 1842 he was

recommended as president of the Maryland-owned Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co. following the resignation of its

ineffectual head. The Canal Co. since 1835 had been bedeviled by financial, labor and political troubles with overtones

of graft, the company's debt had run up and construction ceased. It was felt that Col. McNeill (as he was now styled)

would bring with him substantial financial support for the canal project from out of state. McNeill took office as

president in Apr. 1843 and at once began arrangements with the B&O R. R. to haul coal from Cumberland to Dam 6 for

transloading to canal boats. In an attempt to get work on the canal moving again, he negotiated two contracts with the

construction firm of Letson-Rutter, but both were rejected by the canal board. (John Rutter was the contractor who built

711

New York & Harlem R. R. 1832-37.) McNeill, used to the forthright army way of doing things, in July 1843 entered the

company offices in Frederick, Md., in the absence of the board and the clerk and used the company seal to unilaterally

execute a contract with Letson-Rutter. The board voided this agreement and the state of Maryland removed McNeill as

president of the canal company.

He planned and practically constructed the first large dry docks at the New York Naval Shipyard, operated by the U. S.

Navy from 1801 to 1966 in Brooklyn, and was chief of that installation 1844-45. After that he served as consultant to

various railroads and public works in the U. S. and Cuba, where possibly he encountered some of the rambunctious

navvies who had given him such a bad time during the construction of Boston & Providence. He was made a member of

the prestigious Institution of Civil Engineers of London 4 May 1852, the first American so honored. McNeill died (one

would almost guess from overwork) in Brooklyn, N. Y., 16 Feb. 1853 (Appletons Encyc. 1886; Dupuy 1940-43: 271-2;

Hill 1957; DeLuca 1997: 11; Sanderlin undated).

The locomotive McNeill, built by Braithwaite in England in 1833, shipped "knocked- down" to the U. S. and

assembled by Thomas Rogers in 1835 for the Paterson & Hudson River R. R. (White 1968-79: 113, 213; C. Fisher 1943-

98: 18, who spells the name McNeil; A. M. Levitt pers. comm. 1999), may have been named for him. Gerstner (1842-

3/1997: 531) does not mention the McNeill by name but does refer to a 7-ton English engine rebuilt by Rogers, Ketchum

& Grosvenor. In 1872 Boston & Providence named a locomotive after McNeill; it remained in service on the New Haven

R. R. until 1917.

McNeill on 13 June 1821 married Maria Matilda Camman of New York; they had seven children, at least some of

whom died young.

Dorothy Kemper of Warrington, Va., in 1999 was writing a biography of her ancestor McNeill. Ms Kemper's paper

"Introduction to Captain William Gibbs McNeill" was made available in her absence to delegates at the Second

International Railways Conference, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, England, 6-9 Sept. 2001.

See Harlow 1946 following p. 274 and Turner and Jacobus 1986: 36 for a portrait of McNeill.

712

George Washington Whistler

George Washington Whistler was born on the military post at Fort Wayne in the present state of Indiana but then part of

the Northwest Territory, 19 May 1800, the son of Maj. John Whistler (born in Ulster c1756, died St. Louis, Mo., 1829,

parentage unknown), who was then in command of the post. John Whistler had run away from home as a youth and first

came to America in 1776 as a soldier in Gen. Burgoyne's army. Taken prisoner following Burgoyne's surrender, John

Whistler was paroled and returned to England, but after peace was declared he eloped with his first wife to Hagerstown,

Maryland, and joined the U. S. army as an enlisted man. After being badly wounded fighting the Indians in 1791 he was

commissioned lieutenant of engineers, later rising to captain and brevet major; he served at Fort Wayne and Detroit and

built Fort Dearborn on the site of Chicago, and later returned to command Fort Wayne (1814-16). He then transferred to

Newport, Ky., and finally Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, where he lived until his death (Appletons Encyc. 1886, Vose

1886).

One of Maj. John's 15 children was George Washington Whistler, who while at Newport won an appointment to the U.

S. Military Academy at West Point (31 July 1814). While there, Whistler was one of 179 out of about 200 men who in

Nov. 1818 signed an unsuccessful petition favoring the removal of the ill-tempered and misnamed Commandant of

Cadets Capt. John Bliss for "unofficerlike conduct" (Dupuy 1940-43: 107). In his class of 30 cadets he stood no. 1 in

drawing, no. 4 in descriptive geometry, no. 5 in drill, no. 11 in philosophy and in engineering, no. 12 in math and no. 10

in general merit. After being graduated 1 July 1819, Whistler was appointed second lieutenant in the Corps of Artillery,

and afterward, until 1821, was employed on topographical duty, being stationed for part of that time at Fort Columbus.

From 2 Nov. 1821 to 30 Apr. 1822 he was an assistant professor at the Military Academy, and 1822-26 was engaged with

the commission tracing the U. S.-Canada boundary between Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods. Because the initial

point of the boundary occurred in a swamp, Whistler and others erected 4600 feet farther south a pile of logs 12 feet high

and 7 feet square, the remains of which were rediscovered in 1872 (Vose 1886, Van Zandt 1966: 21).Much of this work

was conducted in deep snow and bitter cold. It is claimed that while engaged in this boundary survey Whistler invented

the idea of using contours to show lines of equal elevation on a map. (The claim is incorrect; map contour lines were first

employed in Europe in 1728 and British mathematician Charles Hutton used them about 1775.) On 1 June 1821 Whistler

became second lieutenant in the First Artillery and on 16 Aug. 1821was transferred to the Second Artillery.

His first wife was Mary Roberdox Swift, sister of Capt. William H. Swift; they had three children: Deborah, his only

daughter, who married a London surgeon/artist named Seymour Haden; George William (see forward); and Joseph Swift,

born New London, Ct., 12 Aug. 1825, died Stonington 1 Jan. 1840. Mary died 9 Dec. 1827 at age 23, buried in

Greenwood Cemetery, Stonington. About 1825 he took as his second wife Anna Matilda McNeill, born 1804 in Bladen

County, N. C., the daughter of Dr. Charles Donald McNeill of Wilmington, N. C., the sister of his friend and associate

William Gibbs McNeill. George and Anna had five sons: James Abbott McNeill, the artist; William Gibbs McNeill, a

noted physician who later lived in London; Kirk Boott, born Stonington 16 July 1838, died Springfield, Mass., 10 July

1842; Charles Donald, born Springfield 27 Aug. 1841, died in Russia 24 Sept. 1843; and John Bouttattz, his middle

name for a Russian engineer who befriended Whistler, born and died in St. Petersburg, at a bit more than one year.

Anna's portrait, which has become famous, was painted by her son James in 1872; she returned from Russia to the U. S.

713

where she remained during her children's education, then removed to England and died there 31 Jan. 1881, age 76, and

was buried at Hastings (Vose 1886).

At the special request of the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., Whistler, with three others, one of whom was his wife's brother

Capt. William Gibbs McNeill, was sent to England in Oct. 1828 to study railways and locomotive construction

(Appletons Encyc. 1886). He was commissioned first lieutenant 16 Aug. 1829; despite his being frequently styled

"Major" this is the highest army rank that he appears to have attained. Though still belonging to the artillery, he was

placed by the army on detached service, making surveys, plans and estimates for public works. He designed and built the

first few miles of the B&O right-of-way. In June 1830 he and McNeill made preliminary and locating surveys for the

Baltimore & Susquehanna R. R. and served as civil engineer for that road until work was halted for lack of money. In the

latter part of 1831 Whistler went to the Paterson & Hudson River (later Erie) R. R. which was under construction,

remaining there until 1833, when he removed to Connecticut to take charge of the location of the New-York, Providence

& Boston R. R., popularly known as "the Stonington." On 31 Dec. 1833 he resigned from the army and was hired as

consulting engineer by the Boston & Providence R. R., and for a time pursued his civilian vocation "without much

anxiety or enthusiasm" (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 32, Vose 1886).

His duties with the Stonington or with B&P could not have been demanding, because in 1834 he removed to Lowell,

Mass., and there was employed unti1 1837 as agent, superintendent and chief engineer of the machine shop of the

Proprietors of Locks & Canals Corp. on the Merrimack River, which despite its misleading name built a number of

locomotives, including an engine named Whistler for the Paterson & Hudson River R. R. in 1835 (C. Fisher 1943-98:

18). He began at Lowell by reproducing two Stephenson-type engines on which he made some improvements. An

Englishman hired to operate them was caught sabotaging them instead, and Whistler sent him back to England. At this

works in 1836 Whistler also designed and constructed calico cylindrical printing presses (Dupuy 1940-43: 272; Lozier

1986: 404), and spent much of his time in reproducing engines for the Western R. R., later the Boston & Albany west of

Worcester, patterned on a locomotive imported from the Stephenson works in England (Appletons Encyc. 1886). On 27

May 1835 Whistler rode as a passenger on the first train to run from Lowell to Boston.

Col. W. Milnor Roberts, hunting for someone to manufacture locomotives for the Cumberland Valley R. R., writes that

in 1836 he visited Lowell and the "fine machine shops. Major Whistler was very obliging in showing me through the

works, which, for that early period in railroading, were on a large scale, and well worth seeing. He soon informed me

that they were so overrun with orders that they could not attempt to make any engines for our company. He also says that

he witnessed the 'first experiment of applying steam to a trumpet. This was between 1831 and 1833,' and that it was his

impression 'that this preceded the invention of the locomotive steam whistle' (Ringwalt 1888)." The claim that Whistler

while at Locks and Canals was the first to apply a steam whistle to a locomotive (Dupuy 1940-43: 272; White 1968-79:

215) may have originated in this account. In 1836-37 Whistler, McNeill and another authored an engineers' report on the

Western R. R.

It is easy to see why one author referred to Whistler as "the Johnny Appleseed of railroad construction." The state of

the Stonington R. R. had become such as to demand his full attention, and in 1837 he and his family left Lowell for

Stonington, Ct., which became his favorite home, where Whistler took charge of the New-York, Providence & Boston R.

R. At West Point his talent at playing the flute had earned him the nickname "Pipes," and Harlow (1946: 221) paints a

charming picture of Whistler at Stonington: "There in the evenings, while completing the line and putting it into

operation, he tootled on the flute, his favorite relaxation, while little Jimmie at the age of four was already drawing

pictures which the neighbors regarded as amazingly good for so young a child." Early in 1839, when the visiting

714

European engineer Gerstner met him, Whistler was wearing two hats, serving as chief engineer for the Western R. R.,

where he was given the difficult task of finding an economical route through the Berkshire wilderness, while still for a

time managing "all the affairs" of the Stonington road, in whose construction he had "played a part" (Gerstner 1842-

3/1997: 336).

For the Western R. R., he surveyed 12 differing routes between Worcester and Brookfield; he called in for advice,

among others, McNeill. By this time Thomas B. Wales was president of Western R. R.; Whistler convinced him and the

directors to scrap their plans for a narrow, crooked, cheap railroad, insisting he would have nothing to do with "a two-

penny cow-path."

Whistler removed from Stonington, where he had in-laws, in 1840. Until 1842 he served first as a consulting engineer

for Western R. R. and then chief engineer and superintendent with headquarters at Springfield, despite the opposition of a

minority of the road's Committee, who favored a "practical man" over a scientific West Pointer "from the lap of wealth,

luxury and idleness . . . ." (Becker and C. Fisher c1930: 33; Appletons Encyc. 1886).

The layout and construction of Western R. R. is Whistler's crowning triumph in the hemisphere. The Western was the

world's first road to surmount a major mountain grade using adhesion rather than inclined planes, cables and stationary

engines. After the optimum course was chosen, Whistler built so well that the later Boston & Albany required only one

realignment, a two-mile stretch on the east slope laid out in 1912 to ease grades and curves. His 21 stone or wood bridges

included a span over Connecticut River, at the time the longest in the world; seven of his stone arch bridges, called

"Whistler's Arches," still exist as National Historic landmarks, though some have been bypassed by the new track

alignment. Although most railroads at the time were single track, at Whistler's insistence the Western R. R. was double-

tracked from the beginning. When done, the combined Boston & Worcester and Western railroads, totaling 201 miles,

formed the world's longest rail line and reached the highest elevation (1459 feet at Washington Summit) of any railroad

in the world. It was thought at the time that no existing locomotive could surmount those grades, though Whistler held

them to a maximum of 1.67%. He introduced the use of a steam shovel on the line, which Gerstner reported on. Yet

Whistler found time in 1837, with his brother-in-law McNeill, to survey the Concord (N. H.) R. R.

Whistler continued to be anything but idle; he and McNeill served as engineers of the Albany & West Stockbridge R.-

R. Co. and wrote a report to the directors in 1840 (McNeill and Whistler 1842). In July 1841, as a member of Western R.

R.'s "Committee on moving power" (which expressed "confidence in the opinion and skill of Major Whistler, under

whose supervision the engines were to be used"), he went to Baltimore and reported favorably on locomotives built by

Ross Winans, seven of which Western subsequently purchased (Becker and C. Fisher c1930: 36); called "mud-diggers,"

these engines proved unsatisfactory in the hill-climbing service they were required to perform. A Westfield, Mass., editor

wrote after riding a Western R. R. excursion train, "In all our railroad travels we never felt more perfectly at home than

under the guardian care of Major Whistler, the chief engineer."

In June 1839 Czar Nicholas I of Russia sent two transportation experts, Col. Pavel Melnikov and Col. Nikolai Kraft, to

study U. S. railroad and locomotive operation and construction. During the 15 months they spent in America they were

so impressed by Whistler's engineering accomplishments on Western R. R. that they advised the czar that of all the

Americans they had met, "no one had given them such full and satisfactory information upon all points, or had so

impressed them as possessing extraordinary ability, as Major Whistler" (Dupuy 1940-43: 272; Kay 1974: 76). In March

1841 Nicholas I formed a committee including Melnikov and Kraft to assess the feasibility of the czar's pet scheme of a

railroad from St. Petersburg southeasterly to Moscow. That summer they drafted a proposal for a double-track line and

on Melnikov's suggestion, Nicholas invited Whistler to come to Russia as engineering advisor on the project. Whistler

715

responded, "I highly value the honor given to me in requesting that I participate in the important task which you are

undertaking, and I already granted the request. Of course I am in this obligated to your testimony and that of Colonel

Kraft (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 812)." Despite the suddenness of Whistler's resignation on 1 June 1842 from his

considerable duties on the Western R. R. "to render professional service to the Russian government," the managers of the

road penned him a positive reference letter containing "their best wishes for his success." Whistler, in company with

Maj. Bouttattz of the Russian Engineer Corps, then journeyed to St. Petersburg and his premature death.

He arrived 30 July 1842 in St. Petersburg, where, purportedly, the czar lay a ruler on a map between his imperial

capital and Moscow and said, "That is how I want the railway built." This oft-told story may be apocryphal; the road

does not follow a perfect tangent, though it is very nearly straight and cost an exorbitant amount ($40 million) to build,

running as it does through the 1000-foot Waldai Mountains, across several large rivers and over bogs that needed filling.

Whistler then traveled partly by horse and partly on foot over the entire route and made his preliminary report, which

was at once accepted. (Vose 1886).

Melnikov, Kraft and Whistler jointly designed and built the line, then the longest (420 miles) in the world under one

management; Whistler served as principal planner, technical expert (Haywood 1998) and consulting engineer, but by far

the larger part of planning the detailed construction of both railway and equipment fell upon Whistler, who became chief

engineer in 1843. (Contrary to Levin [1989], this was not Russia's first railroad, which Gerstner had completed in 1837,

nor was it the "Trans-Siberian," commenced in 1891.) Whistler also won the hotly-contested "battle of the gauges,"

joining with Kraft in opposing broad-gauge in favor of a five-foot track width, thereby standardizing Russian railroad

gauge for at least the next 160 years (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 32, Vose 1886).

Not only did Whistler build the line, "but the iron for the track, the locomotives, cars, and everything appertaining to

the road were to be manufactured under his supervision (Appletons Encyc. 1886)." He influenced the purchase of a 4-4-0

locomotive designed by Joseph Harrison of Philadelphia, the prototype of 162 to be built in Russia; Harrison went to St.

Petersburg, was decorated by the czar and stayed in Russia until 1852. While in America, Melnikov and Kraft also had

met Baltimore locomotive builder Ross Winans, with whom Harrison was then affiliated, and later, with Whistler's

assistance, obtained for Winans a Russian government contract that enriched him to the tune of $5 million. (Whistler

made no such profits.) Winans' two sons William L. and his younger brother Thomas DeKay (1820-1878) in 1843

followed Whistler to Russia where under his direction they built and maintained engines, cars and stationary machinery

and constructed shops for the new railroad (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 32-3); both brothers emerged from this project

millionaires.

Whistler devoted the last seven years of his life to the czar's State Railway. While in Russia he and his family were

housed and treated like nobility. When the Czar noticed that some of the native engineers snubbed Whistler, he put the

situation to rights by personally escorting the American on a tour of an art gallery. Whistler was consulted and made

recommendations on the extensive naval arsenal and the Kronstadt dock yards at St. Petersburg, an iron bridge over the

Neva, improvement of the Dvina River at Archangel'sk (which I assume he did not visit; it was in the far north), and the

great iron roof of the Riding House in St. Petersburg. Other than his pay of $12,000 a year, unlike Harrison and Winans

and his sons he honorably refused all chances to profit monetarily from his situation (Appletons Encyc. 1886, Vose 1886,

Dupuy 1940-43: 272. For Whistler's many services, the czar in 1847 awarded him the Order of St. Anne.

But his work wore him down. Repeatedly he had to rest after overtasking himself. When the dread Asiatic cholera

appeared in 1848, he sent his family abroad while he remained alone in his house, and never neglected his periodic

inspections along the road. In Nov. 1848 cholera attacked him, and although he recovered he was left very weak. He

716

continued work through the winter, suffering much from complications of the illness, but as spring advanced, he became

much worse. George Washington Whistler died quietly in St. Petersburg of cardiac failure 9 Apr. 1849. As previously

mentioned, two of his small sons also had died in St. Petersburg. The railroad was completed by another West Pointer,

Thompson S. Brown, in 1851. It is said there exists on the railway near St. Petersburg one and perhaps two replicas of

Canton viaduct (Diamond 1986: 7). Whistler's body was returned to the U. S. for burial in Evergreen Cemetery in

Stonington beside the graves of several of his children. If I correctly understand Vose (1886) he does not appear to have

been buried near or beneath the 15-foot red sandstone shaft that a group of engineers erected to his memory in

Stonington.

In the estimation of Dorothy Kemper of Warrington, Va., who in 1999 was writing a biography of William Gibbs

McNeill, Whistler has received favorable "press" unwarranted by his actual contributions to Boston & Providence and

other roads with which his name is associated (A. M. Levitt, pers. comm. 1999. Levitt seems to feel that two writers

named Samuel Smiles and Clement Stratton, in inflating the conception of the work performed by Whistler and McNeill

for Boston & Providence and other undertakings, may have done for those two engineers something on the order of what

Parson Weems of the "I did it with my little hatchet" fable accomplished for George Washington.) Yet the Russian

engineers acquainted with Whistler and his work accorded him the highest praise. Gamst, who in 1997 edited the English

version of Gerstner 1842-43, refers to the subject of this biographical sketch as "the inestimable George Washington

Whistler," and Gerstner himself described Whistler's work and the orderly operation of the Western R. R. under his

supervision as "truly admirable" (op. cit.: 820-821). Turner and Jacobus (2986: 4) write of Whistler, "He is recognized as

a founding father of American civil engineering."

In 1874 Taunton Locomotive Works built for Boston & Providence a locomotive named G. W. Whistler. It was scrapped

in 1881.

Whistler, says Dupuy (1940-43: 272), has "sprung into popular view . . . on the kite-tail of his artist son." James

Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), first son of George Washington Whistler and his second wife Anna Matilda

McNeill, spent much of his life denying that he was born in undistinguished surroundings at what later became 243

Worthen Street, Lowell, less than 100 yards from the Pawtucket Canal, on 10 July 1834, while his uncle Capt. McNeill

was building the Canton viaduct. He was christened James Abbott at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Lowell, but later

included his mother's maiden name with his own (Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell). As a teen-ager in St.

Petersburg he attended the Imperial Academy of Sciences, where he studied drawing and was noticed for his talent. After

the elder Whistler's death the family returned to the U. S. His father had wanted him to become an engineer, and he

attended West Point 1851-54. What problems he had there are not clear, but even despite the fact that initially

Superintendent Robert E. Lee caved in to the supplications of Whistler's forceful mother, he was dismissed short of

graduation. In 1854 he worked briefly for the Winans Locomotive Co. in Baltimore (Levin 1989), after which he spent a

year with the Coast Survey in Washington, D. C., before going on to his distinguished career as an artist. His birthplace

in Lowell has been preserved.

George William Whistler, George Washington Whistler and Mary's oldest son, a half-brother of the artist, was born at

New London, Ct., in 1822. He began practice as a civil engineer under his father in 1840, was connected with various U.

S. railroads, and served as superintendent of the Erie and the New York & New Haven railroads. His career was not

injured by his marriage to Julia, Ross Winans' only daughter (Levin 1989); he entered Winans' locomotive works as a

partner and superintendent. Following in his father's footsteps, he went to Russia in 1856 to take charge of the St.

Petersburg-Moscow Railway under the Winans contract and remained there except for a short interval until spring of

717

1869. He constructed the first permanent bridge across the River Neva at St. Petersburg and built several submarines and

armored monitors for the Russian navy. Though his work earned him a title of nobility (the Stanilaus Order) from the

czar and made him wealthy (Gerstner 1842-43/1997: 33), Russia proved little more salubrious for him than it did for his

sire; he resigned because of impaired health and went to England, where he died at Brighton 24 Dec. 1869. He was noted

for his knowledge of railway machinery and his executive ability in railroad management (Appletons Encyc. 1886).

Another son of George Washington Whistler, named in honor of his brother-in-law, was William Gibbs McNeill

Whistler, who became a successful physician in London. A third son, Kirk Boott Whistler, was named for a Lowell

textile manufacturer (Harlow 1946: 87n).

George Washington Whistler's brother William Whistler was a professional soldier of long experience. In Oct. 1845 he

was colonel in command of the 3rd Brigade and the 4th Regiment of Infantry in Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor's Army of

Observation in Texas, prior to the invasion of Mexico. At the time of his retirement he was second only to Gen. Winfield

Scott as the oldest officer in the U. S. Army.

See Harlow 1946 following p. 274 and Turner and Jacobus 1986: 2 for a portrait of George Washington Whistler. In

his later years he appears more full-faced and his luxurious side whiskers diminished.

718

William Raymond Lee

William Raymond Lee III (1807-1891) was born in Marblehead, Mass., the descendant of Revolutionary War Col.

William Raymond Lee and the son of an army officer.He was educated at Norwich University and at the U. S. Military

Academy (1825-1829), one year behind future Confederate president Jefferson Davis, He resigned from West Point two

weeks before graduation to search for his father, who had disappeared after a "train attack." In 1823 he was sent by the

army to Texas, which was then a province of Mexico, to develop thousands of acres of land. He fought in the Seminole

War in Florida. He married, 7 July 1842, Helen Maria Amory (born 29 Aug. 1812), with whom he had two children,

Elizabeth Amory Lee and Arthur Tracy Lee; a descendant, Thomas Amory Lee, wrote a biography entitled "Gen. William

Raymond Lee." He lived in Dedham, Mass., into his old age, and rather than walk to the depot when he wanted to go to

Boston would cut through his garden to the nearby track and hold up his hand for the first inbound train, which would

always stop and take him aboard (Harlow 1946: 110n). He lived also in Mansfield and Roxbury, Mass.

After completion of the Boston & Providence R. R., which he served as a civil engineer and builder and McNeill's

principal assistant, he became its first superintendent. In February 1843, while still in this position, he was one of ten

motive power experts who, with a sub-committee of Western R. R. Corp. stockholders, observed and reported on trials of

seven locomotives built for Western by Ross Winans (Becker and C. Fisher c1930: 37).

He served as an officer in the Mexican War. The U. S. sent him to Canada during the Canadian rebellion. In 1850 he

was appointed to adjust difficulties between the city of Wheeling and the Baltimore & Ohio Rail Road. In 1853 he

resigned as superintendent of Boston & Providence to take over as chairman of the board of directors and president of

the Rutland & Burlington R. R. in Vermont, then superintendent of the New York, Ogdensburg & Champlain R. R. and

superintendent and president of Vermont Central R. R. but remained in that latter post only a year (Harlow 1946: 270).

On 1 July 1861, shortly following the outbreak of the Civil War, Lee, described as a "doughty old West Pointer,"

organized and was commissioned colonel in command of the elite 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment,

otherwise known from its makeup as the "Harvard Regiment," becoming the second oldest officer in the Union army.

One of his majors was Paul Joseph Revere, a grandson of Paul of "midnight ride" fame. In fall of 1861 Lee was rebuked

in writing by Gov. Andrew of Massachusetts for allowing a junior officer to return two fugitive slaves to their owner,

although in doing so both had been obeying the orders of their commander, Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, who had

admonished his men "not to incite and encourage insubordination among the colored servants in the neighborhood of the

camps." This three-way falling-out was short-lived. When Gen. Stone asked Lee if his regiment had all the equipment it

needed, Lee proudly replied, "My regiment, sir, came from Massachusetts!" Shortly, Lee wrote Gov. Andrew that Stone

had promised the 20th that "we would not be deprived of our due share of active service."

This service was not quite what Lee envisioned. On 21 Oct. 1861 he, Revere and others were captured during the

Ball's Bluff fiasco and shipped to infamous Libby Prison in Richmond. When the U. S. government announced in 1862

that it was about to try the officers and crew of a captured Confederate privateer (named, coincidentally, Jeff Davis) as

pirates and traitors, for whom the punishment was hanging, Lee and Revere were chosen by lot to be placed in

condemned cells and hanged in reprisal. Lee's old fellow West Pointer Confederate President Davis was adamant in

refusing pardon. Lee, when asked if he had a last message for his regiment, said, "Tell the men their colonel died like a

brave man." This reached Lincoln, as did heavy pressure from the public and his own administration, and when he

decided the privateers could be treated as legitimate prisoners of war, Davis relented and Lee and Revere were

719

exchanged and came north. Revere later died of his wounds (Catton 1951: 72-81).

Lee returned to command the 20th Regiment in the Peninsula Campaign. Following the Battle of Seven Pines, the

wounded Confederate Lt. Col. Gustavus A. Bull of the 35th Georgia Regiment died and was buried in the field 31 May

1862 while in his custody, and Lee, with the instincts of the honorable soldier, on 15 June 1862 sent Bull's sword to his

family along with a personal letter announcing his death. In return, Lee received a letter dated 19 July 1862 from his

distant relative, Gen. Robert E. Lee, thanking him for his kindness. Col. Lee led the 20th Regiment at the battle of

Antietam (17 Sept. 1862) where it was engaged in heavy fighting in the West Woods. Before resigning from the army 17

Dec. 1862 he was breveted a brigadier general (Schouler 1866: 322-3; Foote 1958-86: 108, 114). His career after the war

continued to be distinguished.

A photo portrays him as a benign-looking gentleman with white mutton-chop whiskers and mustache. William

Raymond Lee died the day after Christmas 1891 and is buried under a simple stone in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica

Plain, Mass. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who served as a first lieutenant, captain and finally lieutenant-colonel in Lee's

regiment, in a Memorial Day address at Harvard 30 May 1895 said of Lee, "He gave the regiment its soul. No man could

falter who heard his 'Forward, Twentieth!'"

In 1853 the Boston & Providence management named a locomotive for Lee, and when that wore out named another

for him in 1874; this one outlived all other B&P engines, remaining on the New Haven R. R. roster in much rebuilt form

until 1935.

720

Isaac Ridgeway Trimble

Isaac Ridgeway Trimble was born in Culpeper County, Va., 15 May 1802, the son of John Trimble. An uncle obtained

him an appointment to the U. S. Military Academy, which he entered in 1818 after making the entire trip on horseback

and at night to avoid being attacked by Indians. After being graduated in 1822 he spent ten years in the artillery branch.

He was detailed to survey the military road from Washington, D. C., to the Ohio River, and also served at Boston and

New York. In April 1828 Lieut. Trimble was one of 10 topographical engineers appointed by the Baltimore & Ohio R. R.

as assistants to Lieut.-Col. Stephen H. Long, Capt. McNeill, 1st Lieut. Whistler and others (Dupuy 1940-43: 271, Vose

1886, Baer 2005). He was ordered by the B&O board on 24 Dec. 1828 to examine possible rail routes between the

Potomac and Youghiogheny Rivers. In 1832 he resigned from the army to pursue the more lucrative career of civil

engineering with the Boston & Providence. Removing next to Maryland, he became one of the state's leading citizens.

Over the nearly 30 years to follow he supervised construction of a number of railroads in the mid-Atlantic states and

became a distinguished superintendent. He was chief engineer of the Baltimore & Susquehanna R. R. (Gerstner 1842-

43/1997: 833), on which McNeill had charge of construction, and completed this road to York, Pa., in 1837; and also was

chief engineer of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore R. R. In 1849 he built Baltimore‟s historic President St. Station, which was restored in 1997 as a Civil War museum.

When the Civil War began Trimble was engaged in major civil engineering operations in Cuba, but returned to

Virginia to defend it against the anticipated Northern invasion, and in May 1861 entered Confederate service as a colonel

of engineers. Serving under Gens. Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Richard Ewell and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson,

with whom he was a favorite and to whom he said, "Before this war is over I intend to be a major general or a corpse,"

he rose to brigadier general, then major general, being the highest-ranking Marylander in the Confederate army. On one

occasion, when Gen. Lee asked him about the suitability of certain terrain for fighting, Trimble replied he had been chief

engineer before the war of a nearby railroad and knew there was hardly a square mile of that region that did not contain

excellent ground for battle or maneuver (Foote v. 2: 445).

Trimble's “reputation for hard-handed aggressiveness was unsurpassed by any man in either army” (Foote v. 2: 563). Having recovered from a wound at Bull Run that nearly cost him his left leg, he commanded an infantry brigade at

Fredericksburg, Va., 13 Dec. 1862, and aided by other brigades drove back the Union forces of Gibbon, Birney and

Sickles with repeated attacks. At Fredericksburg and at Antietam (Sharpsburg), Md., on his home soil, as a part of Gen.

R. S. Ewell‟s division, his infantry brigade consisted of the 12th and 21st Georgia, the 15th Alabama and the 20th and 21st

North Carolina regiments. At the start of the Gettysburg campaign Gen. R. E. Lee, probably recognizing that Trimble

despite his 61 years was "noted for his driving ferocity in battle," gave him command of Gen. Pender‟s former division, two brigades of which he led on the left of Pickett's famed charge on the second day of the battle. After a bullet shattered

the bone in the same leg that had been hit 10 months before and wounded his mare Jinny, he sent a message, couched in

formal military language, to a fellow commander: "Gen. Trimble sends his compliments to Gen. Lane, and wishes him to

take charge of the division, as he has been wounded." His leg was amputated, but he had to be left behind when the

Confederate army withdrew and was taken captive and sent to Johnson's Island prison camp in Lake Erie, near Sandusky.

Soon after his capture he was recommended for parole, but former Secretary of War Simon Cameron advised against it

because of Trimble‟s expert knowledge of northern railroads. Ever the "fiery competitor," on one occasion, to relieve the camp monotony, the one-legged general led his forces in a victorious snowball battle against those of a Missouri general.

721

Following 21 months in prison, he was exchanged in Apr. 1865 just in time for the end of the war, though he was unfit

for further military service.

A portrait of Maj. Gen. Trimble in uniform shows a fierce-looking old soldier with thinning hair, ferocious black

eyebrows and what a biographer described as a "huge, scowling, martial mustache." Besides being an engineer and a

soldier, he was an amateur author. After the Civil War he returned to Baltimore and resumed his civilian career as an

engineer. In July 1867 he resigned as chief engineer of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. He died in Baltimore 2 Jan.

1888 and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery (Appletons Encyc. 1886).

722

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723

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Appletons 1886 Encyclopedia: re-ed. as Virtual Biographies, 2001

Arnold, Alison, 1976, Remembering America's love affair with trains: Boston Sunday Globe, 24 Oct. 1976, p. A-18.

AS: see Attleboro Sun.

Atlas of Massachusetts, 1891, comp. under the direction of O. W. Walker: Geo. H. Walker & Co., Boston.

Atlas of surveys, Bristol County, Massachusetts, 1895: Everts and Richards, Philadelphia. Village of Mansfield, and

town

of Mansfield, 1895: pp. 108-113. Maps removed from original atlas.

Atlas of the city of Taunton, Massachusetts: George H. Walker & Co., Boston, 1881.

Attleboro Advocate: Attleboro, Mass.

Attleboro Sun, various issues: Attleboro, Mass. (Cited as AS.)

------, 19 Feb. 1938, Telegraph halted telephore along first railroad here: Attleboro, Mass.

Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, various issues: Attleboro, Mass. (cited as Sun Chronicle.)

Atwood, Charles R., 1880, Reminiscences of Taunton in ye auld lang syne: Republican Steam Printing Rooms,

Taunton, Mass.

Austin, Wallace, Jr., 1962, The evolution of travel since the Pilgrims: delivered orally before Norton (Mass.) Hist. Soc.,

19 June 1962.

Babcock, Herbert A., 1922, When the railroad came to Westerly: paper read before Westerly Hist. Soc. 5 Oct. 1922.

Baer, Christopher T., 2005, A general chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, its predecessors and

successors and its historical context, 1828-1830.

Baker, George Pierce, 1937/1949, Formation of the New England railway systems: Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge.

Baldwin, James F., 1827-1828, Plan of a survey for a railroad from Boston to the Hudson River.

Baltzell, E. Digby, 1966, The Protestant establishment, Aristocracy and caste in America: Random House, New York.

Barrett, Richard C., 1996, Boston's depots and terminals; a history of Boston's downtown and Back Bay railroad

stations from 1834 to today: Railroad Research Publication, Rochester, N. Y.

Bartky, Ian R., 2000, Selling the true time, nineteenth-century timekeeping in America: Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford,

Cal.

Bayles, Richard M., ed., 1891, History of Providence County, Rhode Island: W. W. Preston & Co., New York, 2 v.

724

B&P public timetable 31 Jan. 1876: see Boston and Providence.

------ pres. letters: see Boston and Providence Rail Road president‟s letter book. BCF&NB: see Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford.

Becker, George P., and Fisher, Charles E., c1930, Boston and Albany locomotives 1832-1930: in unknown; copy

obtained from F. D. Donovan, May 1999, pp. 9-33.

Beebe, Lucius, and Clegg, Charles, 1952, Hear the train blow, a pictorial epic of America in the railroad age: Grosset &

Dunlap, New York.

Belcher, Clif, Feb.-Mar. 1938, Belcher series on railroad begins on 30th anniversary of opening of present stations: a

series of 17 articles on the history of B&P appearing in Attleboro Sun, Attleboro, Mass.

Bell, Kurt, 1998, untitled: Milepost, Journal of the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Sep. 1998.

Biographical directory of the United States Congress, 1774-present.

Bixby, Arthur M., Sr., 1992, The making of a railroad man by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad:

NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 23, issue 2, pp. 4-43.

Blaine, James G., 1884, Twenty years of Congress from Lincoln to Garfield with a review of the events which led to the

political revolution of 1860: Henry Hill Pub. Co., Norwich, Ct.

Bliek, Alan W., 1979, Letter to editor on Granite Railway: NHRHTA, v. 10, issue 3, p. 3.

Boston Daily Globe, 28 Apr. 1887: Boston, Mass.

Boston (Daily or Weekly) Advocate, 18 Aug., 25 Aug., 29 Sept., 8 Oct., 15 Oct., 20 Nov. 1835: Boston, Mass.

Boston Gazette, 6 Jan. 1889: Boston, Mass.

Boston Herald, various issues: Boston, Mass.

Boston Journal, various issues: Boston, Mass.

Boston and New York Central R. R., 4 Aug. 1854, public timetable.

Boston and Providence Rail Road, 1832, Report of the Board of Directors to the stockholders of the Boston and

Providence Rail-Road Company, submitting the report of their engineer, with plans and profiles, illustrative of the

surveys, and estimated cost of a rail-road from Boston to Providence, to which are annexed the acts of

incorporation: J. E. Hinckley & Co., first ed. Includes folding plate of profiles of routes and folding map of the

several proposed routes. The second section is a geological memoir of the area between Boston and Providence.

------, 1 June 1835, Engineer's report: Harvard Univ., Business School, Baker Library.

------, 1835, Notes of a trip made by "Whistler" on B. & P. Rail Road, Feb 16th 1835: handwritten report of

steaming and fuel and water consumption tests 16 Feb. and 6 Mar. 1835, Harvard Univ., Business School,

Baker Library, Baldwin Collection (provided by D. Forbes 2002).

------, 28 Nov. 1836- 23 Apr. 1838, President‟s letter book: manuscript copies of letters written by B&P president William W. Woolsey:, unpublished, 337 pp. (deposited in Railroad Archives Collection, Thomas J. Dodd

Research Center, Univ. of Conn., Storrs, Ct., presented by Edward J. Sweeney. Abstracted and copies provided me by A.

M. Levitt 2005.)

------, 1846, Invoices and employe payrolls for month ending 30 Sept. 1846: in possession 2002 of A. M. Levitt,

Fresh Meadows, N. Y.

------, 1867, Report of the directors.

------, 31 Jan. 1876, passenger train public timetable: D. Clapp & Son, Printers. Courtesy of L. V. Cotnoir, Westfield,

Mass. (Cited as B&P pub. t.t. 31, Jan. 1876.)

725

------, 30 June 1915, Right of way and track map, Boston and Providence R. R. Corp., operated by the New York, New

Haven and Hartford R. R. Co., from Pleasant View station 964+71.34 to Boston station 1017+51.34, Town of

Mansfield, state of Mass., scale 1 = 100 ft.: Office of Valuation Engineer, Boston, Mass., sheet no. 15.1 of 57 sheets

(map sheet provided by Edward J. Sweeney 2003).

Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad, 26 June 1876, Employes' timetable no. 42 for Mansfield and

Framingham Div. Courtesy of L. V. Cotnoir, Westfield, Mass. (Cited as BCF&NB emp. t. t. no. 42, 26 June 1876.)

Boston Transcript: Boston, Mass.

Boston 200 Neighborhood history series, 1976: Boston 200 Corp., Boston.

Botkin, B. A., and Harlow, Alvin Fay, eds., 1953, A treasury of railroad folklore: Bonanza Books, New York.

Bowen, H. L., 1839, Memoirs of Tristam Burges: Providence.

Bristol County [Mass.] Atlas, 1895, Evert and Richards, Philadelphia.

Bristol County Democrat, and Independent Gazette, 1836: Taunton, Mass., 29 July 1836.

Bristol County Northern District Registry of Deeds: Taunton, Mass.

Brown, Charles A., 1979, Historical competition?: NHRHTA spring 1979, v. 10, issue 2, p. 34.

------, 1979, Letter to editor on Granite Railway: NHRHTA v. 10, issue 3, p. 3.

------, 1981, The Attleboro Branch Railroad, or, 'Gee whiz, Dad, hang onto your seat, we're going fast': Shoreliner 1981

v. 12 n. 2 NHRHTA pp. 29-35.

------, 1987, Sharon Hill: NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 18, issue 2, pp. 7-9.

------, 1989, A very elegant station: NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 20, issue 2, pp. 32-33.

------, 1990, An alternative plan: Shoreliner, v. 21 issue 4 NHRHTA pp. 38-39.

------, 1993, The Providence, Warren & Bristol electrification: NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 24, issue 3, pp. 4-35.

Brown, Dee, 1977, Hear that lonesome whistle blow: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

Brown, William H., 1871, The history of the first locomotives in America, from original documents and the testimony

of living witnesses: D. Appleton & Co., New York.

Bryant, Foster, Feb. 1842, Memorial in relation to the coal mines of the state of Massachusetts Feb. 1942: pp. 54-128

in An account of the state of the treasury of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, January 1, 1842: House no. 19

(House no.33, 1839), House and bill relating to the coal mines of the state: Dutton and Wentworth, Boston 1842.

Buck, Stuart H., comp., c1980, The Stearns family correspondence: correspondence, diaries, journals, records, etc., of

the Stearns family, 1714-1920: unpublished ms, 5 v. Deposited in Mansfield Public Library, Mansfield, Mass.

Burrows, Percy, 1980, Railroads once unfettered transport and communications; now, the abandoned railbeds are a

squandered resource: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 31 July 1980, p. 9

Cameron, E. N., 1953, Of Yankee granite; an account of the building of Bunker Hill Monument: Bunker Hill Monument

Assoc., Boston.

Canton Historical Society, undated, A history of the viaduct.

------, undated, Canton Lyceum had lively debates.

Canton Journal, 28 July 1882, 11 Aug. 1882, 12 Jan. 1883, 23 Nov. 1883, 14 Aug. 1885, 28 May 1886, 9 Oct. 1886, 11

Aug. 1933: Canton, Mass.

Carlos, Henry J., 1971, Private railroad stations: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass. 2 Dec. 1971.

726

Carnevali, Gloria, 1949, What the coming of the railroad has meant to Mansfield: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., p.

5, Mansfield High School graduation essay, 24 June 1949.

Carr, Vickie, 2001, Paul Revere's Canton years: Canton (Mass.) Historical Society.

Cartwright, Kenneth, 1976, The New Haven streamlined locomotives: NHRTIA, v. 7, n. 4, fall 1976, pp. 3-13.

Cash, William, 1952, Canton's 117 year old viaduct to be renovated: Boston Sunday Globe, 25 May 1952.

Catton, Bruce, 1951, Mr. Lincoln's army: Doubleday & Co., Garden City, N. Y.

Chaffin, William L., 1886, History of the town of Easton, Massachusetts: John Wilson and Son University Press,

Cambridge, Mass.

Chalkley, Tom, 2000, Charmed life, Whistler's muddle: Baltimore City Paper, 12 Jan. 2000.

Chandler, Alfred D., Jr., 1954, Patterns of American railroad finance, 1830-50: Business History Review, v. 28, n. 3, Sep.

1954, pp. 248-263.

Chase, Harry B., Jr., 1948, Congressman Lincoln of Illinois arrives at Mansfield, Sept. 14, 1848, on his tour of

Massachusetts: ink and wash drawing, in 1948 in possession of Richard F. Lufkin, Boston. The view is looking

northward. This drawing is somewhat conjectural, although details of the "passenger house" are correct; there are

errors in the trainmen's dress and in the obvious lack of a plank platform between the tracks at the depot, and the

train should not be stopped on the left-hand track.

------, 1965a, Gay wedding – Mansfield and the iron horse: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 1 Mar. 1965. (Written

and titled before “gay” acquired its present meaning.) ------, 1965b, Railroading at its peak in Mansfield comes to life again: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 15 July 1965.

------, 1965c, Even into November weary troops stopped here at close of Civil War: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass.,

21 Oct. 1965.

------, 1966a, Mansfield's railroad depots rich in lore of 133 years: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 10 Mar. 1966.

------, 1966b, Abandoned railroad branch makes prime nature trail: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 29 Mar. 1966.

------, 1967, Gone! Historic rail branch: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 2 Mar. 1967.

------, 1991, Map and sections of the Moyle quarry, Sharon, Mass.: 17x22" map, scale 1" = 20', original in 1991 in

possession of William Hocking, Foxborough, Mass.

------, 1997a, Coal exploration and mining in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island: unpub.

------, 1997b, Graphitic coal mines in Rhode Island and Massachusetts: unpub.

------, 1998, Coal exploration and mining in Mansfield, Bristol County, Massachusetts: unpub.

Chase, Harry B., Sr., 1942/43, Various letters written to his soldier son.

Chrimes, Michael, ed., 1998, The civil engineering of canals and railways before 1850: v. 7, Studies in the history of

civil

engineering, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Chrimes is a member of the Newcomen Society and book review editor of its

"Transactions."

City Record, and Boston News-Letter, The, 1837, Boston, Mass.

Chute, Newton E., 1966, Geology of the Norwood quadrangle, Norfolk and Suffolk counties, Massachusetts: U. S.

Geol. Surv. bull. 1163-B, prepared in cooperation with the Comm. of Mass. Dept. of Pub. Wks, Washington, D.C.,

2 plates.

Clarkin, Harold E., 1954, The high-ball and the iron horse: presented at Fall River Hist. Soc. May 1954. Repub. Apr.

1975, Frank P. Dubiel, Fall River, Mass.

727

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1837, Report on the petition of Tristam Burges and others; remarks before the

Senate Committee on Rail-ways [sic] and Canals of Seekonk Branch Rail Road: Mass. Senate doc. 89, Boston,

petition signed 26 March 1836 by Tristam Burgess and Timothy P. Ide.

Connecticut Observer, The, 1837, Hartford, Conn.

Cook, Richard J., 1987, The beauty of railroad bridges in North America, then and now: Golden West Books, San

Marino, Cal.

Cooney, J., c1955. (A brief unpublished history of the railroads in Mansfield, which I saw once but have been unable to

find again, thus the title is unknown to me.)

Copeland, Jennie F. The following numbered articles appear in the Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., under the

heading "Mansfield in other days:"

------, 1929a, Travel in other days: n. 14, 14 June 1929; reprinted Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 7 July 2000.

------, 1929b, Jacob Deane and Fruit Street: n. 15, 21 June 1929.

------, 1930a, The coming of the railroad: n. 75, 12 Dec. 1930.

------, 1930b, The coming of the railroad (continued): n. 76, 19 Dec. 1930.

------, 1931a, The coming of the railroad (continued): n. 78, 2 Jan. 1931.

------, 1931b, Railroad stations: n. 79, 9 Jan. 1931.

------, 1931c, The Paines and the railroad: n. 80, 16 Jan. 1931.

------, 1931d, The railroad: contrasts: n. 81, 23 Jan. 1931.

------, 1931e, West Mansfield is put on the map: n. 82, 30 Jan. 1931.

------, 1931f, The depot and round about the yard: n. 83, 6 Feb. 1931.

------, 1932a, The Garfield and Arthur campaign: n. 142, 4 Nov. 1932.

------, 1932b, Distinguished visitors: n. 143, 10 Nov. 1932; reprinted Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass.,18 Feb. 2000.

------, 1933a, The weather: n. 162, 24 Mar. 1933.

------, 1933b, More weather: n. 163, 31 Mar. 1933.

------, 1933c, The flood of 1886: n. 164, 7 Apr. 1933.

------, 1934a, The Manton Windlass and Steam Steerer: n. 199, 23 Mar. 1934.

------, 1934b, Gardner Chilson: n. 201, 6 Apr. 1934.

------, 1934c, The Chilson foundry: n. 204, 20 Apr. 1934.

------, 1934d, Patrick Shields and the Shields foundry: n. 207, 18 May 1934.

------, 1936, Strike and riot on the railroad: n. 248, 29 May 1936.

------, 1936-56, Every day but Sunday, the romantic age of New England industry: original printing 1936 by Stephen

Daye Press; republished 1956, Mansfield Press, Mansfield, Mass.

------, 1937, The Paine family: n. 291, 29 Oct. 1937.

------, 1951, Hither and thither, Our railroad station: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass., 26 Jan. 1951.

------, 1955, Taunton Branch, built in 1836, key line in wartime: Mansfield News, Mansfield, 29 Dec. 1955, p. 4.

Cornwall, L. Peter, 1986, Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, a successful enterprise; Part 5, conclusion: NHRHTA

Shoreliner, v. 17, issue 4, pp. 23-30.

Corrigan, Donna Kendall, 2001, City's Kirkyard offers glimpse back in time: Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle,

Attleboro, Mass., 2 Jan. 2001, p. 8.

Crane, Priscilla C., 1925, The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company: Antiques, Apr. 1925, pp. 29-36.

728

Crocker, William, 1857, How to burn coal in locomotive engines: Wyncoop, Hallenbeck & Thomas, New York, N. Y.,

39 pp.

Curr, John, 1797, The coal viewer and engine builder's practical companion.

Daggett, John, 1834a, Remarks and documents concerning the location of the Boston & Providence Rail-Road through

the burying-ground in East Attleborough: Boston.

------, 1834b, Sketch of the history of Attleborough from its settlement to the present time: M. Mann, Dedham, Mass.,

136 p. Reprinted Colonial Lithograph, Inc., Attleboro, Mass., 1973.

Darnell, Victor C., 1998, The National Bridge and Iron Works and the original Parker truss: The journal of the Society

for Industrial Archeology, v. 24, n. 2, 1998, pp. 5-20.

Davidson, Gideon Miner, 1837, revised 1840, The traveller's guide through the middle and northern states.

Day, John, 1970, Trains: Grosset & Dunlap, New York.

Dedham Historical Society, Dedham, Mass.

Dedham Patriot, 5 June 1834: Dedham, Mass.,

Dedham Transcript: Dedham, Mass.

DeLuca, Edward J., 1997, Putnam: NHRHTA Shoreliner, 1997: v. 28, issue 1, pp. 8-31.

De Lue, Willard, 1925, The story of Walpole 1724-1924: Ambrose Press, Norwood, Mass.; Railroads pp. 233-237.

Del Vecchio, Mike, 1999, Railroads across America: Loew & Be Hould Publishers, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Diamond, William A., 1986, The viaduct, surviving the ravages of time: Heritage Monthly, Westwood, Mass., Sept.

1986,

pp. 4-8.

Dickens, Charles, 1842, American notes, a journey: republished 1985 by Fromm International Publishing Corp., New

York.

Dinsmore, c1857, American railway and steam navigation guide: quoted in part in OFA 1858: 42.

Divall, Colin, 2000, Learning from America?, the diesel revolution: Railroad History, millennium special, The Railway

& Locomotive Historical Soc., Inc., Westford, Mass., pp. 124-142.

Dix, Marjorie A., 1966, North fought railroad through Attleboro: Attleboro Sun, Attleboro, Mass., 8 Jan. 1966.

------, 1967, Burying ground incident was a bitter pill: Attleboro Sun, Attleboro, Mass., 4 Feb. 1967.

------, 1970, Layout of railroad line caused uproar in 1887 [sic!]: Attleboro Sun, Attleboro, Mass., 14 Oct. 1970.

------, 1973, Down memory lane: In the "old" Penn Central strike right to "daily grog" was issue: Attleboro-North

Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass., 10 Feb. 1973.

Dole, Richard F., 1985, Downeast pioneer: the Bangor & Piscataquis Canal & Rail-Road Company: Railroad History,

spring 1985, bull. no.152, The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc., Weston, Mass., pp. 43-47.

Donovan, Francis D., 1987, Bussey bridge, letter to editor: NHRHTA Shoreliner v. 18, issue 3, p. 5.

Dorchester Atheneum: Dorchester, Mass., 19 Nov. 2005.

Douglass, Frederick, 1855, My bondage and my freedom: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, New York and Auburn, N.Y.;

repub. 1987, University of Illinois Press, Chicago and Urbana, Ill.

Droege, John A., 1916, Passenger terminals and trains: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York and London;

repub. 1969, Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, Wis.

729

Dubiel, Frank P., 1974, Union Station, Providence, R. I.: comp., ed. and pub. by F. P. Dubiel, Fall River, Mass.

------, date unknown, The birth of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

Dupuy, Col. R. Ernest, 1943, The story of West Point 1802-1943: The Infantry Journal, Washington.

Eaton, S. Dwight, engr, 1850, Map of the Old Colony Rail Road with its branches & connecting roads, prepared under

the direction of the Committee of Investigations, Jany 1850. Scale 1:150,000. Library of Congress Geographic and

Map Div., Washington.

Economist (The), 1998: U. S. edition, 16 May 1998.

Edson, William D., 1981, R&LHS all-time roster of New Haven steam locomotives, corrections and additional

information: in Fisher, Charles E., 1938-81, Steam locomotives of the New Haven Railroad, National Railway

Publication Co., New York.

Encylopaedia Britannica, 1959: William Benton, Chicago-London-Toronto, 24 v.

Engineering News 17, 19 Mar. 1887, untitled editorial, p. 188.

------ 42, 10 Aug. 1889, untitled editorial, p. 88.

Everett, J. M., surveyor, 1850, Map of Foxborough [Mass.]: C. Cook's Lith., Boston, 1 sheet.

Excavating Engineer, May 1936: a copy in possession of George T. Comeau of Canton, Mass.

Falla, Brian, 2003, Norwood: Community Newspaper Co., Community guide, zone 2, June 2003, p. 21.

Farson, Robert H., 1993, Cape Cod railroads including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket: Cape Cod Historical

Publications, Yarmouth Port, Mass.

Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for Massachusetts, 1937, Massachusetts, a guide to its

places and people: American Guide Series, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. (Cited as FWP-Mass.)

------, 1937, Rhode Island, a guide to the smallest state: American Guide Series, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, with map

insert. (Cited as FWP-RI.)

First railroad in America, The, 1826-1926, a history of the origin and development of the Granite Railway at Quincy,

Massachusetts, 1926: privately printed for the Granite Railway Company in commemoration of the one hundredth

anniversary.

Fisher, Charles Eben, 1917, A Little Story of the Boston & Providence Railroad Company

------, 1919, The story of the Old Colony Railroad: revised, edited, enlarged and republished 1974, Frank P. Dubiel, Fall

River, Mass., 1974.

------, 1936, Locomotives of the New Haven R. R.: Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc. bull. 41, Nov. 1936, pp. 32-37;

reprinted 1981 in Steam locomotives of the New Haven Railroad: National Railway Publication Co., New York,

with corrections and additional information by William D. Edson.

------, 1937, Locomotives of the New Haven R. R.: Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc. bull. 43, Apr. 1937, pp. 60-68,

repub. 1981 in Steam locomotives of the New Haven Railroad: National Railway Publications Co., New York,

with corrections and additional information by William D. Edson.

------, 1938a, Locomotives of the New Haven R. R.: Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc. bull. 46, Apr. 1938, pp. 37-69;

republished 1981 in Steam locomotives of the New Haven Railroad: National Railway Publication Co., New York,

with corrections and additional information by William D. Edson.

730

------, 1938b, Locomotives of the New Haven R. R.: Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc. bull. 47, Sept. 1938, pp. 79-

89; repub. 1981 in Steam locomotives of the New Haven Railroad: National Railway Publication Co., New York,

with corrections and additional information by William D. Edson.

------, 1939, Locomotives of the New Haven R. R. Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc. bull. 49, May 1939, pp. 69-85;

repub. 1981 in Steam locomotives of the New Haven Railroad: National Railway Publication Co., New York, with

corrections and additional information by William D. Edson.

------, 1943, Our first locomotives: reissued 1998, Hauck, Cornelius W., and White, John H., Jr., eds., expanded and

augmented with notes and comments and a selection of illustrations of locomotives of the period: Railway &

Locomotive Hist. Soc., Inc., bull. 62, San Francisco. Contains data from 1838 U. S. Treasury Report on railroad

motive power.

------, 1943, [Title unknown]: Railroad Magazine, Dec. 1943, pp. 61-62.

------, 1947, Whistler's railroad, the Western Railroad of Massachusetts: Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc. bull. 69, pp.

96-97.

------, 1955, Letter to Railroad Magazine, Oct. 1955, p. 39.

Fisher, Herbert, 1901, Early recollections: Locomotive engineering, Jan. 1901; reprinted in R&LHS newsletter, spring

1996, v. 16, n. 2, p. 2.

Fisher, Ralph, 1976, Notes from a railroad museum: Nat. Ry. Hist. Soc., Inc., Narragansett Bay Chapter, Narragansett

Newsletter, Jan. 1976, v. 7, n. 5, p. 2, Providence, R. I.

Fitchburg Daily Sentinel: Fitchburg, Mass.

Flanagan, Mark, 1980, Famous architects have [remainder of title missing from clipping in my possession]: Attleboro

North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, 19 Feb. 1980.

Foote, Shelby, 1958/86, The Civil War, a narrative, v. 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville; v. 2, Fredericksburg to Meridian:

Vintage Books, New York.

Forney, Matthias N., 1879, The railroad car builder's pictorial dictionary: The Railroad Gazette, New York, repub. 1974

by Dover Publications, Inc., New York.

Foxboro Reporter, various issues: Foxborough, Mass.

Francis, George B., 1909, Railroad terminal improvements at Providence, R.I.: presented to the Boston Soc. of Civil

Engineers, 17 Mar. 1909, in Dubiel 1974.

Francis, Payson C., 1945, Letter in Railroad Magazine, Apr. 1945, pp. 134-136.

Fratassio, Marc J., 2005, Readville, part 3: Shoreliner, New Haven R. R. Hist. And Technical Ass‟n, v. 29, n. 4, 2005, pp. 5-18.

Freeley, Pauline, 2004, The town of West Roxbury: the parish of Sacred Heart, Sacred Heart church – St. Andrew the

Apostle church, Roslindale, Mass., summer 2004.

Freeman, H. A., c1930, The genesis of the Western R.R.: in unknown, prob. R&LHS bull., copy obtained from F. D.

Donovan, May 1999, pp. 5-8

"Freight," Mansfield News beginning 19 Aug. 1881: anon. columnist on railroad matters.

FWP-Mass., FWP-RI: see Federal Writers' Project, Massachusetts or Rhode Island.

Gabriel, D. Gade, 2000, Railroad gauge, the evolution of railroad standard gauge [etc.].

Galvin, Edward D., 1987, A history of Canton Junction: Sculpin Publications, Brunswick, Me.

731

Gamst, Frederick C., ed., 1990, Gerstner, Francis Anthony Chevalier de (Gerstner, Franz Anton Ritter von), 1839,

Letters from the United States of North America on internal improvements, steam navigation, banking, &c.;

translated from the German by L[udwig] Klein, civil engineer: Railroad History, autumn 1990, bull. no. 163, The

Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc., Weston, Mass., pp. 28-73.

Gerstner, Franz Anton Ritter von, 1842-1843, Die innern communicationen der vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerica:

Vienna, L. Forster's artistische Anstalt, 2. v; Gamst, Frederick C., ed., translated by Diephouse, David J., and

Decker, John C., 1997, Early American railroads: republished Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, Cal., 1 v.

Gibb, George Sweet, 1943, The whitesmiths of Taunton, a history of Reed & Barton 1824-1943: Harvard Univ. Press,

Cambridge, Mass.

Goodwin, John A., 1967, The Boston and Lowell Railroad: Towpath Topics, v. 5, n. 2, Aug. 1967, Middlesex Canal

Association, Billerica, Mass.

Granite Railway Company, 1926, The first railroad in America, a history of the origin and development of the Granite

Railway of Quincy, Massachusetts: privately printed.

Greene, Howard F., 1953, The Naugatuck Valley "rail toot:"special train itinerary, 3 May 1953, The Railroad

Enthusiasts, Inc., Boston.

Greenwood, Richard, 1998, A mechanic in the garden: landscape design in industrial Rhode Island: The Journal of the

Society for Industrial Archeology, Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, Mich., v. 24, no. 1, pp. 9-18.

Guard rails and deck construction for railway bridges, 2 Sept. 1909: Engineering News 62, pp. 270-276.

Gustafson, Valborg, 1965, The wail of a whistle, nostalgia at Harvard's Baker Library: The Boston Sunday Globe,

Boston, 13 June 1965.

Hager and Handy, eds. and pubs., 1893, History of the Old Colony Railroad.

Hall, Ronald, and Wuchert, Robert, Jr., eds., 1983-86, Memories of the New Haven: Cedar Hill Productions,

Wallingford, Ct., v. 1, 1983.

Haney, Lewis H, 1908-10, A Congressional history of railways in the United States.

Hannon, Bill, 1999, Query brings sad message: Attleboro-North Atleboro Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass., 7 Mar.

1999.

Harding, J. W., 1934-45, The steam locomotive, Part 1: International Correspondence Schools, Scranton, Pa.

Harding, Walter R., 1965-67, The days of Henry Thoreau, a biography: Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Harding, Walter R., and Bode, Carl, eds., 1958-74, The correspondence of Henry David Thoreau: Greenwood Press,

Westport, Ct.

Harlow, Alvin Fay, 1946, Steelways of New England: Creative Press, New York; 2nd ed., American Book, Stratford

Press, New York.

------, 1948, The great Seekonk case: Railroad Magazine, v. 45, n. 3, Popular Publications, Chicago, Apr. 1948, pp. 104-

110.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1873, v. 46, n. 272: Harper & Bros., New York, Jan. 1873, p. 311, 791.

------, 1873: v. 46, n. 275: Harper & Bros., New York, Apr. 1873, p. 790..

Harrington, Mary G., 1999, Thank Daggett for city's history: Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle Special Section,

13 Oct. 1999, p. 3A.

Harwood, Herbert H., Jr., 1999, Railfan & Railroad, Fanmail, Apr. 1999, p. 12.

732

Hayward, James, 1828, Report of the Board of Commissioners, of internal improvement in relation to the examination

of sundry routes for a railway from Boston to Providence: Pendleton, Boston. Includes the first American railway

map (see below listing).

------, Jan. 1828, Plan of a survey for the proposed Boston and Providence Rail-Way: printed by Annin and Smith, map

sheet 7" x 42". Scale 1:64,000. Library of Congress, Map Section, 31 July 1940. (George G. Smith and William B.

Annin in 1828 established a printing firm with the name of the inventor of lithography, the Senefelder Lithography

Co. of Boston. The firm was taken over by the Pendletons in 1830. [Ristow 1972].)

Haywood, Charles F., 1953, Roslindale family 500 years "Working on the Railroad": Boston Sunday Globe, 15 Nov.

1953, p. A-27.

Haywood, Richard Mowbray, 1998, Russia enters the railway age, 1842-1855: East European Monographs, dist. by

Columbia University Press, New York.

Heath, Richard, 1999, Bromley Park, the origin of the name: Jamaica Plain Hist. Soc.

Hemphill, Mark W., 2003, Which business do you want to be in?: Trains, Kalmbach Pub. Co., Waukesha, Wis., Jan.

2003:

4.

Hill, Don Gleason, 1896, Record of the town meetings and abstract of births, marriages and deaths at the town of

Dedham, Massachusetts 1887-1896.

Hill, Forest G., 1957, Roads, rails, and waterways, the Army Engineers and early transportation.

Historic stone bridge, 1933, Canton Journal 11 Aug. 1933, p. 7: Canton, Mass.

History of the Baldwin Locomotive Works 1831-1923: Baldwin Locomotive Works, in Westing 1966.

Hodges, John B., 1956, 1957, Rambling notes of a roving reporter: Foxboro Reporter, Foxborough, Mass., 8 Nov. 1956,

11 Apr. 1957.

Holbrook, Stewart Hall, 1962, The old post road, the story of the Boston post road: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New

York.

Hollingsworth, Brian, and Cook, Arther F., 1987, The great book of trains: Portland House, Crown Publishers, Inc., New

York.

Holman, Winifred Lovering, 1931, Briggs family records: compiled for the Briggs Family Association, the Rumford

Press,

Concord, N. H.

Holton, Will, 1998, The best of all worlds, a historical view of Northeastern's environs.

Holzmann, Gerard J., and Pehrson, Bjorn, 1994, The first data network: Scientific American Jan. 1994, pp. 124-129.

Hopkins, G. M., 1892, Map of downtown Providence: in NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 22, issue 1, 1991, p. 24.

Hopper, Gordon E., 1997, Norfolk County Railroad goes bust: Milford Daily News, Milford, Mass., 28 June 1997,

p. 9.

Howard, William, and McNeill, William Gibbs, 1830, Communication . . . in reply to a request from the Committee on

Internal Improvement, in accordance with the order of the House of Delegates to ascertain the cost and advantages

of a railroad from Baltimore to Washington, to be made by the State: James Green, Jan. 1831, Md. legislative

session Dec. 1830, doc. no. 21, Annapolis.

Howley, Kathleen, 1998, Boston's tiny Readville had a big role in the Civil War: Boston Globe, 5 Sept. 1998.

733

Hubbard, Freeman H., 1945, Railroad Avenue, great stories and legends of American railroading: McGraw-Hill Book

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Hudson, Frederic, 1873, Journalism in the United States 1690 to 1872: Harper‟s New Monthly Magazine v. 46, n. 274, Mar. 1873, p. 591.

Humphreville, Frances T., 1969, For all people, the story of Frederick Douglass: Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Humphrey, Thomas J., and Clark, Norton D., 1985, Boston's commuter rail, the first 150 years: bull. no. 19,

Boston Street Ry Assoc., Cambridge, Mass.

------, 1986, Boston's commuter rail, second section: bull. no. 20, Boston Street Ry. Assoc., Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

Hunt's Merchant's Magazine, 1850: v. xxii, n. 4, Apr. 1850.

Hutchinson, Nelson Vinal, 1890, History of the Seventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the war of the rebellion of

the southern states against Constitutional authority 1861-1865, [etc.]: pub. by authority of the Regimental

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Jackson, Charles T., 1840, Report on the geological and agricultural survey of the state of Rhode-Island, made under a

resolve of legislature in the year 1839: B. Cranston & Son, Providence.

Jackson, Donald, ed., 1955, Black Hawk, an autobiography; University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill., and Chicago.

Jacobs, Warren, 1926, The Providence terminals: Along the Line, June 1926, in Hall and Wucherts, eds., 1983, v. 1, pp.

31-36.

------, 1930, The old brass baggage checks: NYNH&H Along the Line, Nov. 1930, v. 6, n. 16, p. 5, illustrated.

------, 1969, The first five-hour Shore Line limited, "The Bay State Limited": in Rail Photo Service Newsletter, June

1969,

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Johnson, Anne, 1971, New action on Chartley pond recalls history: Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle 25 May

1971.

Johnson, Roy, 1865, Lincoln spoke 21 times in New England: Boston Sunday Globe 7 Feb. 1965.

Kay, F. George, 1974, Steam locomotives: Galahad Books, New York.

Kaye, Clifford A., 1976, The geology and early history of the Boston area of Massachusetts, a bicentennial approach:

U.S.

Geological Survey bull. 1476, Washington.

Keith, Samuel N., 1872, Narrow gauge for the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Railroad, to be built from tide water at

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Kelso, H. L., 1958, Double-enders: Railroad Magazine, New York, N. Y., Apr. 1958, v. 69, n. 3, pp. 26-31.

King, Moses, 1882, King's pocket-book of Providence, R. I.: Cambridge; Tibbits, Shaw & Co., Providence.

Kirby, Mike, 1999, A trip down memory lane: Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass., 13 May

1999.

Kirkland, Edward Chase, 1948, Men, cities and transportation, a study in New England history: Harvard Univ. Press,

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Kirkland, John, date unknown, Men, cities and transportation.

Knight, Jonathan, and Latrobe, Benjamin H., 1838, Report upon the locomotive engine, and the policy and management

734

of several of the principal rail-roads of the northern and middle states: Baltimore.

Knobel, Dale T., 1986, Paddy and the republic, ethnicity and nationality in antebellum America: Wesleyan University

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Kunze, David P. And Judith C., 1974/1994, A history of Roslindale: Roslindale Hist. Soc.

LaBounty, Gloria, 1998, From a church, a city rises: Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass., pp. 9-

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Langford, Norma Jane, 1999, Quincy's quarries: Early American Homes, Aug. 1999, v. 30, n. 4, pp. 72-75.

Lawrence, Alvin A., 1977, B. & P. engine no. 9, Susan Nipper, shown as Old Colony no. 162: line drawing, NHRHTA

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Lee, James E., 1975, America's very first railroad, it created a monument: Trains, Apr. 1975, pp. 28-32.

------, 1979, Letter to editor on the Granite Railway: NHRHTA, v. 10, issue 3, p. 3

------, 1987, The Dedham Branch: NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 18, issue 1, pp. 6-17.

Levasseur, Paul E., 1994, A place called "Taunton Central": Shoreliner, NHRHTA, v. 25, issue 4, pp. 16-39.

Levin, Alexandra Lee, 1989, Inventive, imaginative, and incorrigible, the Winans family and the building of the first [sic]

Russian railroad: Maryland Historical Magazine, spring 1989, n. 84, pp. 50-55.

Levitt, Alan M., 1997, Data from Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut at Storrs, and

information on printers' trains: manuscript, 29 Oct. 1997.

------, 1998-2006, to H. B. Chase, Jr.: personal letters.

------, 1999, English locomotives of the early American railways 1829-1841, purchasing policies, practices and

practicalities: unpublished manuscript, 5 p..

------, 2002a, A chronological history of the New Haven Railroad 1760-1951: unpublished manuscript, 82 pp.

------, 2002b, Two hundred twenty-two years of history of the New Haven Railroad – some myths, mysteries and

misconceptions: 13 Nov. 2002. Delivered orally in shortened form by the author at Thomas J. Dodd Research

Center, Univ. of Conn., Storrs, Ct., 21 Nov. 2002.

------, 2004, How America discovered the railway: presented at Third International Early Railways Conference, York,

England, Sept. 2004, 20 pp.

------, 2005, Picturing the railway: Railroad History, The Railway & Locomotive Hist. Soc., spring-summer 2005,

part 1, pp. 64-75.

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Lewis, Edward A., 1973, The Blackstone Valley line, the story of the Blackstone Canal Company and the Providence &

Worcester Railroad: The Baggage Car, Seekonk, Mass.

Lewis and Crowell, civil engineers, 1909, The Standard Gauge Manufacturing Co., plan of land in Foxborough, Mass.,

showing buildings, drains and property lines: map sheet 22 x 34", scale 1"=40', 10 Jan. 1909, revised Sep. 1909,

retraced 19 Aug. 1916, Foxborough, Mass.

735

Liberator: Boston, 8, 14 Dec. 1838: 197; 11, 24 July 1841: 118; 11, 6 Aug. 1841: 127, 165.

List of polls and taxable property of the town of Mansfield, May 1, 1895: William White, Mansfield, Mass.

Locomotive engineering, 1900/1991, Ref. to Ebenezer Fisher, Jr., advancing money to contractors who built B&P: Nov.

1900, reprinted in Railway & Locomotive Historical Society newsletter, fall 1991, p. 2.

Long Island Star, 1834: 2 Oct. 1834.

Low, Nathanael, 1797, An astronomical diary or almanack for the year of the Christian aera 1797 [etc.]: T. and J. Fleet,

Boston, Mass.

Loxton, Howard, 1963-70, Railways: Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., London, New York, Sydney and Toronto.

Lozier, John William, 1976-86, Taunton and Mason, cotton machinery and locomotive manufacture in Taunton,

Massachusetts 1811-1861: Garland Publishing Co., New York and London.

Ludy, Llewellyn V., 1920, Locomotive boilers and engines, a practical treatise on locomotive boiler and engine design,

construction, and operation: Amerucan Technical Society, Chicago.

Lufkin, Richard F., comp., 1948, A 100th anniversary map of Abraham Lincoln's visit to Massachusetts September 11-

23,

1848 [etc.]: delineation by Ugo A. Donofrio, Richard F. Lufkin Co., Boston, map sheet.

Lyell, Charles, 1845, Travels in North America; with geological observations on the United States, Canada and Nova

Scotia: John Murray, London, 2 v. with foldout maps.

Mackenzie, George Norbury, ed., 1907, reprinted 1966, Colonial families of the United States: 7 v.

Mansfield, 1871, Map of the town, scale 2" = 1 mile, with enlargement of center of East Mansfield, scale 1" = 30 rods

(495'), origin unknown, probably removed from an atlas: 1 sheet.

Mansfield and Norton directory 1894.

Mansfield Historical Society collection, Mansfield, Mass.

Mansfield, Massachusetts, 1888: "aerial view" of town, O. N. Bailey & Co. Lith., Boston.

Mansfield News, The, various issues: Mansfield, Mass. (First printed 28 Mar. 1873. Cited as MN.)

Mansfield, town of, 1871, Map of the central part of Mansfield, scale 1" = 3.5 rods (c58'), origin unknown, probably

removed by book vandals from atlas: 1 sheet.

------, 1883, Annual reports of the selectmen, treasurer, auditors, and school committee of the town of Mansfield for the

year ending Feb. 28, 1883: Office of the News, Mansfield, Mass.

------, 1884, Annual reports of the selectmen, treasurer, auditors and school committee of the town of Mansfield for

the year ending Feb. 29, 1884: Pratt and White, Mansfield, Mass.

------, 1885, Annual report of the town officers of Mansfield for the year ending February 28, 1885: Pratt and White,

Mansfield, Mass.

------, 1969 updated to the present, Assessors' maps: orig. comp. by Corse and Tibbetts, Rochester and Marion, Mass.,

available at Assessors' office, Mansfield town hall.

Map of the Boston & Woonsocket Rail Road, date unknown: shows plans of different surveys returned to the Joint

Standing Committee on Railroads & Canals, Ephraim W. Bouve, lithographer, hand-colored, scale 1:160,000.

Library of Congress Geographic and Map Div., Washington.

Map of the Old Colony Railroad and connections, 1880: Rand, Avery & Co., Boston.

Maryland State Archives, Public Documents Collection MSA SC 2736.

736

Massachusetts, 1839, Senate no. 49, Report and bill concerning the Seekonk Branch Rail-Road Co. and the Boston and

Providence Rail-Road Corp.: Boston, 13 pp.

Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners, 1887, Special report to the Legislature in relation to the disaster on

Monday, March 14, 1887, on the Dedham Branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad, at the bridge commonly

known as the Bussey bridge [in] West Roxbury.

------, 1889, Nineteenth annual report, 1887: Boston, pp. 26-28, 38-52, and Appendix C.

Massachusetts Internal Improvement Board, 1828, Report for the Senate session of 1827/28; Dutton and Wentworth,

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Massachusetts Topographical Survey, 1900, Atlas of the boundaries of the town of Seekonk: Mass. Topo. Survey

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McAdam, Roger William, The old Fall River line: incomplete reference.

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McNeill, William Gibbs, Whistler, George Washington, and Swift, W. H., 1838, Reports of the engineers of the

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------, and Whistler, George Washington, 1842, Report of the engineers of the Albany & West Stockbridge Rail-Road

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Middleboro News, The: Middleboro, Mass.

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2000, pp. 52-55.

------, 2003, Super railroad: Trains, v. 63, n. 3, Mar. 2003, pp. 36-59, Kalmbach Pub. Co., Waukesha, Wis.

Mitchell, Walter, Jr., 1973, Rails to Newport: Narragansett Newsletter, v. 5, n. 2, p. 1-4, and v. 5, n. 3, p. 1-4,

Narragansett Bay Chapter, Nat, Ry Hist, Soc., Providence, R. I.

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Molloy, D. Scott, 1994, Mass transit in Rhode Island, part 2: Old Rhode Island Magazine, Mar. 1994.

------, 2003, The history of the irish in Rhode Island: lecture delivered at Univ. of R. I.

Morgan, John S., 1977, Robert Fulton: Mason/Charter, New York.

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Moxham, Ted, 2000, Woodcock garrison house has had colorful history in North Attleboro: Attleboro-North

Attleboro Sun Chronicle, 22 Feb. 2000, pp. 7-8.

------, 2001, It's been 35 years since great train wreck of '66: Attleboro-North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, 26 Nov. 2001.

Narragansett Newsletter, Apr. 1976, May 1976, Sept. 1976: Narragansett Bay Chapter, Nat. Ry. Hist. Soc., East

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Nation, The, 5 May 1887, v. 44, n. 1140. Article on Bussey bridge wreck report.

National Railway Historical Society, 1947, Convention excursion via the New Haven R.R.: 31 Aug. 1947, 9 p. (Cited

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Nelligan, Tom, 1972, The great Boston railroad jubilee: Narragansett Newsletter, v. 4, n. 6, p. 1-4 + map.

737

Nery, Sharon, 1988, Rumford Avenue home product of railroad era: Mansfield News, Mansfield, Mass. 9 June 1988

New-Bedford Mercury, various issues: New Bedford, Mass.

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New Haven Railroad Historical Society Newsletter, Oct. And Dec. 1982. (Cited as NHRHS.)

New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association (originally New Haven Railroad Technical Information

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New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co. (cited as NYNH&H), 1917, Properties owned and operated:

NYNH&H Real Estate Dep't Chart A-1, 15 May 1917; reprinted 1973 by NHRHTIA, Standing data 17.1.1.

------, 1923/1943, Boston Division automatic signaling Framingham Center to Mansfield: fanfold blueline print, 18

June 1923, rev. to 6 May 1943.

------, 1928/1941, Boston Division block signaling Readville Transfer to Boston: fanfold blueline print, 12 Dec. 1928,

rev. to 6 Mar. 1941.

------, Along the Line, various issues from 1930 to 1947.

------, 1941/1946, Automatic signals Cranston to Readville: fanfold blueprint, 10 Sept. 1941. rev. to 28 June 1946.

------, 1943a, Along the Line: New Haven, Ct., Apr. 1943.

------, 1943b, Along the Line, Old Timers' issue: Aug. 1943, v. 13, n. 8, New Haven, Ct.

New York Times, 22 Jan. 1868: New York, N. Y.

------, 1948, Railroad entered city 100 years ago: 26 Dec. 1948, in NHRHTA Bull. n. 11, Nov. 2002.

NHRAA 1940-52/2002: See New Haven Railroad Athletic Assoc.

NHRHS: See New Haven Railroad Hist. Soc.

NHRHTA or NHRTIA: See New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association.

NNL: See Narragansett Bay Newsletter.

Norfolk County Gazette, various issues.

North Attleboro News-Leader, various issues: North Attleboro, Mass. (Cited as N.A. News-Leader.)

Norton Historical Society, 1998: data about Norton, Mass., passenger station.

Norwood Messenger, various issues: Norwood, Mass.

NYNH&H: see New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co.

OCR: see Old Colony Railroad System.

OFA: see Thomas, Robert B.

Old Colony Railroad System official timetables for passenger trains, corrected to December 1, 1890: Geo. H. Ellis,

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Soc. Of Civil Engrs.

738

Ozog, Edward J., 1984, The Pawtucket Central Falls station: NHRHTA Shoreliner, v. 15, issue 4, pp. 6-17.)

------, 1990, Another way to Boston; the New York & New England in northern Rhode Island: NHRHTA Shoreliner,

v. 21, issue 3, pp. 28-38; v. 21, issue 4, pp. 6-13; v. 22, issue 1, pp. 23-38.

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623

Patton, Ken, 1988, Old Colony northern division: Shoreliner, 1988 v. 19, n. 1, NHRHTA, pp. 16-35.

PCANY Monthly Newsletter, 2000: Precast Concrete Ass‟n of New York, Inc., Aug. 2000, v. 11, n. 8, Albany, N Y. .

Penn Central Railroad, 1972, Maintenance program and track chart, Northeastern Region, New

England--East Division, correct to 1-1-72.

Phillips, Elizabeth, 1978, The month was February, the year was 1886--and area suffered another disaster: Attleboro-

North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, 23 Feb. 1978.

Pierce, John T., Sr., 1991, Historical tracts of the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island: Hamilton Printing Co.,

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Pixley, Marshall J., undated, The Adams Express Co.

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Precaution against accident, 1887: Railway Revue 54, 8 Oct. 1887, p. 583.

Press preview of the Comet, New Haven to Boston – April 29, 1935: New Haven R. R. flyer

Providence (Daily) Journal, 10 June 1834 and various issues: Providence, R. I.

Quincy Patriot Ledger, 27-28 Feb, 1991, The canal that never was.

Railfan and Railroad, 2000, v. 18, n. 1, Carstens Publication, Newton, N. J., Jan. 2000, p. 4. (A list of early locomotives

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Railroad Enthusiasts, 1948, Last steam train on New Haven Railroad: 27 Apr. 1948. (Cited as RRE.)

Railroad Jubilee, The, date unknown, An account of the celebration commemorative of the opening of railroad

communication between Boston and Canada, 1852: City Printer, Boston.

Railroad Magazine, various issues: Popular Publications, Chicago.

------, Jan. 1965, Article about locomotive Janus on Lehigh Valley RR: p. 22.

Railroads America – Pioneer railroad travel in the east, 1927, anon.

Railway & Locomotive Historical Society bull. 101, Oct. 1959.

------ newsletter: spring 1996, v. 16, n. 1.

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pp. 6-35.

Report of Committee 7--On wooden bridges and trestles, 1913, AREA Proceedings 14, Proceedings 14, pp. 652-676;

1136-1143; and 15, 1914, pp. 402-405.

Report of Mr. Baldwin on the rail-road surveys from Boston to the Hudson River, 1828.

Report of the Board of Commissioners, for the survey of one or more routes for a railway from Boston to Albany, 1828:

Dutton and Wentworth, Boston.

739

Report of the Board of Directors of Internal Improvements of the State of Massachusetts on the practicability and

expediency of a rail-road from Boston to the Hudson River, and from Boston to Providence, 1829, submitted to the

General Court 16 Jan. 1829: press of the Boston Daily Advertiser, W. L. Lewis, Boston.

Report of the engineers, on the reconnaissance and survey, made in reference to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road,

1828.

Reports of the engineers of the Western Rail Road Corporation made to the directors in 1836-1837: Merriam, Wood

& Co., Springfield, Mass., 38 pp.

Reports of the selectmen and treasurer, and the school committee of the town of Mansfield, for the year ending February

10, 1873: Rockwell & Churchill, Boston.

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Ringwalt, John Luther, 1888, Development of early transportation systems in the United States: Philadelphia Railway

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Robbins, A. G., 1888, The Bussey bridge: Technology Quarterly 1, Sept. 1888, pp. 68-72.

Robert Stephenson & Company, 1830-1875, Description books, Order books, Minute books: in Science Museum

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Rogers, Robert, date unknown, The Canton viaduct: unpublished, Canton Hist. Soc.

Rothovius, Andrew E., 1986, America's ten greatest snowstorms: in Old Farmer's Almanac, pp. 110-111.

Rowsome, Frank, Jr., and Maguire, Stephen D., tech. ed., 1956, Trolley car treasury: New York.

Ruchames, Louis, 1956, Jim Crow railroads in Massachusetts: Amer. Quarterly 8, spring 1956, pp. 61-75.

Russell, Harold, 1988, Culverts and wood truss bridges: Model Railroader, Milwaukee, Wis, Dec. 1988, pp. 99-105.

Russell, Howard S., 1982, A long, deep furrow, three centuries of farming in New England: University Press of New

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Salisbury, S., 1967, The state, the investor, and the railroad; the Boston & Albany, 1825-1867: Harvard Univ. Press,

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Sanderlin, date unknown, The masonry locks, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, pp. 148-50.

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San Diego Railroad Museum, 1999, untitled publication: San Diego, Cal.

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Schouler, William, 1866, Annual report of the adjutant general of the commonwealth of Massachusetts for the year

ending December 31, 1865: Public document no. 7, Wright and Potter, Boston.

Scientific American, 1869: 4 Sept. 1869.

------ Supplement, week ending 26 Mar. 1887, "A serious railway accident": no. 586, Munn & Co., New York, p. 197.

------ Supplement, week ending 8 Sept. 1888, "A perpetual railway Pass": no. 662, Munn & Co., New York, p. 144.

------ Supplement, week ending 20 May 1905, "An inside-connected locomotive for Purdue University": p. 403.

Second Ashtabula disaster, 1887: Engineering News, 19 Mar. 1887, pp. 189-192.

Second contributing cause to the Bussey bridge disaster, 1887: Engineering News 17, 30 Apr. 1887, pp. 285-287.

Sharon Ozone, various issues: Sharon, Mass.

740

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man 1788-1879, with a foreword by John Seelye: University Press of New England, Hanover, N. H., and London.

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Solomon, ------, no date, American steam locomotives.

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Stone and Webster, 1990, Report on groundwater observation wells: v. 1, submitted to city of Boston, Apr. 1990.

Stoughton Branch Railroad Corporation, 1845, First annuel report: Mass. Senate reports, Feb. 1845, n. 35, pp. 87-89.

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741

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744

Index

Abington, Mass., 552, 652

Accidents to trains, 171, 216, 233-234; stages vs trains 9; Granite Ry 29-30, 72; collisions 188, 484, 488, 499, 507-508,

535, 562-564, 576; Roxbury head-on collision 212-214; derailments 312, 393, 485-486, 513-515, 540, 541, 543,

565, 578, 581, 586, 600, 617; boiler explosions 351-352, 390-391; N. Attleborough “Whiz Bang” 460; Janus on

Lehigh Valley 478-479; Richmond Switch R. I. 483; Canton trestle collapse 617; broken wheel 622; Bussey bridge

disaster 627-635, 641, 650; Forest Hills flying switch 636, 650; near W. Mansfield 650-651; Attleboro 673; 1969

Canton Jct wreck 669; 1926 “Owl” wreck, Mansfield, 671

Acton & Nashua R. R., 494

Adams, Alvin, founds Adams Express Co., 270

Adams, Charles Francis, Jr., Mass. r. r. commissioner, 455, 627; bio. 464

Adams Express Co., 270, 594

Adams, John Quincy, pres. U. S., 29

Agricultural Branch R. R., 451, 493

“Air line,” 329, 335, 354, 379, 411, 426, 438, 672

Albany, N. Y., 12, 14, 25, 31, 114, 270, 271, 344, 365

Alcohol, problems with, 104-105, 198

Alden, H. C., ticket clerk B&P Boston, 397

Allen, Israel, section foreman TB, 499, 595

Allen, Micah, Jr., boards unruly TB laborers, 198

Allen, William, frt brakeman B&P killed on r. r. Attleborough, 561

Allen, (Dr.) William G., physician Mansfield, 519, 532, 557, 559, 581, 645, 656

"All Rail Freight,” 606

Ambrose, ______, conductor “Shore Line Express, 651

American Bell Telephone Co., 582

American Railway Express Co., 270

American Steam Carriage Co., locomotive bldrs Philadelphia, 92, 155, 160, 167, 241, 407, 435

Ames, Fisher, Dedham, pres. Citizen‟s Coach Co., 6

Ames, Oakes, director S. Br., 305, 387; bio. 399

Ames, Oliver 2nd, owns shovel factory N. Easton, 387; bio. 399

Ames Shovel Factory, see Oliver Ames & Sons

745

Amherst, Belchertown & Palmer R. R., 340

Amoskeag Mfg Co., locomotive bldrs Manchester, N. H., 391

Annis, Elisha, psgr trainman B&P at Bussey bridge wreck, 628

Anthony, Henry B., owner Providence Journal, 342

Appleton, Edward, Mass. r. r. commissioner, 474

Aquidneck Island, R. I., 2

Armstrong, George Washington, newspaper business Boston, 441

Armstrong News Co., Boston, 441

Armstrong Transfer (baggage), 585

Atherton, Jesse, E. Mansfield, 296

Attleboro-Attleboro Jct. r. r., see Chartley branch

Attleboro Jct. (Camp Jct.), see Taunton

Attleborough Branch R. R. ("Whiz Bang" line), 450-451, 460, 484, 505, 507, 562, 576, 581-582, 587, 614 ; opens 460

Attleborough, Mass., 4- 7, 10, 11, 54, 58, 77, 62, 114, 182, 184, 203, 212, 218, 239, 246, 311, 324, 421, 470, 537,

543, 594, 649, 652, 659; industries 57, 204; Kirk Yard, 58, 63, 110-114, 130, 216, 221,451; rum rebellion 105;

Washington Rifle Corps 106; Wilmarth Hotel 106; original depot demolished by engine 185; Chartley branch 471;

1873 depot opens 486-487; vandalism 507; windmill water pump 511; L. Pike sues r. r. 515; deaths on r. r. 520, 526,

561; Garfield parade 564; buried telephone lines 582-583; plans to abolish grade crossings 612; North Attleborough

1, 3, 9, 37, 57-59, 71 117; Steam Boat Hotel 9, 57, 58; Branch r. r. 450-451, 460, 582, accident on opening day 460;

East Attleborough (Attleborough Precinct, East Village) 3, 36, 37, 57, 105, 186, 220, 450; South Attleborough 7, 70;

Hebronville, 62, 63, 110, 127, 316, 327, 332, 333, 421, 485-486, 512, 527, 539, 580-581, 594, 613; Old Town

(Attleborough City) 57; Dodgeville 110, 185, 220, 307, 308, 316, 324, 421, 527, 539, 593, 594, Perrins 185; East

Junction 316; Bearcroft 471; Attleboro Falls 649; psgr train accident 673

Attleborough Rifle Co., see Washington Rifle Corps.

Auburn, see Cranston

Austin poultry farm, E. Mansfield, ships fowls by r. r., 619

Babbitt, Isaac, inventor, 326; bio. 336

Bagg (Bragg?), Mrs., depot restaurant cook Mansfield, 426

Baggage checks, 139, 186-187

Bailey, Frank, allowed to drive track car, 379

Bailey, Jacob, cart wrecked by train, 250

Baird, Matthew, developed firebrick arch at Baldwin Loco. Wks., 408

Balch, Joseph W., director B&P, 577

Baldwin, James F., civil engr, 31

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 408

Baldwin, Matthias William, locomotive bldr, 241-242; bio. 258

Baltimore & Ohio R. R., 48, 52, 92, 263

Baltimore & Ohio Telegraph Co., 599

Baltimore & Susquehanna R. R., 52

746

Bangor & Piscataquis R. R., 171

Barrington, R. I., 367

Barrowsville, see Norton

Baskets, 309, 482, 506-507, 618

Bayley, J. Frank, sta. agent B&P W. Mansfield, 583

Bayley, John, sta agent B&P Tobit's/W. Mansfield, 362, 363, 411, 418, 453

Bayley, O. W., invents boiler, 405

Beals, Royal, locomotive engr B&P, 411, 575

Bearcroft, see Attleborough

Beard, (Capt.) William A., sta agent B&P Tobit's (W. Mansfield), 185, 418

Belcher, Addison, offers land Mansfield, 562

Belcher, C. W., depot coach service Mansfield, 608

Belcher Malleable Iron Co., Easton, 607

Bellevue sta., Boston (on West Roxbury loop), 629

Bellew, James, section foreman, crossing watchman B&P Mansfield, 379, 461, 510, 656

Bellew, Patrick, son of James Bellew, 461

Bellew, Thomas, son of James Bellew, 461

Bellingham, Mass., contemplated Mansfield-Bellingham r. r., 319

Bells on locomotives, first required 161-162; 219, 247

Bessom, William, frt conductor B&P, 574

Billerica & Bedford R. R., narrow gauge, 529

Billings, Alfred, locomotive fireman B&P at Bussey bridge wreck, 628, 630

Billings, Warren, sawyer B&P Mansfield, 431

Bird, Francis William “Frank”, industrialist, opposed r. r. Walpole, 330, 354

Bird, Maria, widow of Wm. Bird, 508

Bird, Polly, Canton, 304

Bird, William, foundryman Mansfield, 508

Birkenhead's spindle shop, Mansfield, 382

Bisby, Francis, operates forge Canton, 304

Bishop & Simonson shipyards N. Y., builds Lexington, 252

Black Hawk, chief, Sauk and Fox, 251; bio. 100, 260

Black Hawk, early locomotive B&P, 88, 91, 92, 115, 118, 133, 251, 430; lost in Sprague‟s Pond 125

Blackstone Canal, see Canals

Blackstone, Mass., 329, 354, 365, 388, 389, 397, 412, 439

Blaisdell, Joel, agent B&P Providence, 171

Blizzard of 1888, 663

Blue Hill, Milton, Mass., 308, 390

Blunt, Edmund M., U.S. Coast Survey Engineer, 308

Boardman, Horace, invents boiler, 405-407, 600

Boat trains, see Steamboat trains

747

Boller, Alfred P., r. r. expert, 621

Bond & Sons, watches, Boston, 384

Borden, C. T., petitions B&P Mansfield, 521

Boston & Albany R. R., 277, 310, 478, 521, 553, 554-555, 559-560

Boston & Lowell R. R., 11, 15, 39, 49, 50, 52, 71, 74, 89, 152, 155, 167; begins regular operation 171

Boston & Maine R. R., 366, 536

Boston & New York Air Line R. R., 519, 586

Boston & New York Central R. R., 379, 389, 393, 412, 433; opens 388

Boston & Providence R. R., 1, 11, 31, 653, 655, 672, 673; proposed horse ry 31, 33-38, 48; chartered 44, 48,

incorporated 48; organized 52; surveys begin 52-53; construction begins 54; curves and grades 61-62, 74; franchise

sold at auction 70; cuts and fills 72-74; ties and rails 74-76; first locomotives 88; first scheduled train to meet

stagecoaches from steamboat 135; first inpection run (horse-drawn) 168-169; first regular steam train over Canton

viaduct 173; first scheduled steam trains Providence-Canton 169-170; cost of construction 176; first double track

219; buys Seekonk Branch R. R. 235; revenues and expenses 241, 255-256, 264-266, 275, 303, 306, 319, 340, 410,

619; roster of locomotives 243, 256, 266, 272-273, 313, 318, 340, 346, 353, 374, 380, 392, 413-415, 422, 438, 454-

455, 463n, 492n, 589n, 603n; operating rules 246-248, 276; daily mail train 264; timetables and schedules 294-295,

368-372, 389, 395-397, 600-601, 608-609; acquires Prov. & Bost. R. R. & Transp. Co. 313-314; East Jct cut-off

316; first through Boston-Stonington “Steamboat Train” 334; numbering of locomotives 392-393, 413-414;

locomotives not numbered 414-415, 444; rationale for building 640; baggage rates 642; leased to Old Colony R. R.

651-655, 665, 666, 667; in Blizzard of „88 663; becomes Old Colony R. R. Providence Div. 669; lease assumed by NYNH&H R. R. 674; remains independent legal entity after lease to NYNH&H R. R. 674

Boston & Providence R. R. & Transportation Co., 48, 70

Boston & Sandwich Glass Co., operates “bogey” ry, 23

Boston & Taunton R. R. Corp., 194

Boston & Taunton Turnpike, 8, 10-11

Boston & Worcester R. R., 11, 15, 49, 50, 71, 88-90, 114, 115, 127, 131, 156, 160-162, 167, 171, 182, 205, 207, 222,

230, 231, 234, 247, 248, 268, 286, 326, 344, 365,389, 451, 493, 554; begins regular operation 171

Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg R. R., 432, 481, 497, 508, 644; incorporated, name change of Agricultural Br. R. R. 451;

consolidates with Fitchburg & Worcester R. R. 451, 494; chartered 457, 493; engineers Mansfield & Framingham R.

R. 457; leases Mansfield & Framingham 469, 494; continuous line Lowell-New Bedford 469; backed by New

Bedford interests 493; extends Mansfield & Framingham lease 494; takes over Framingham & Lowell R. R. 494;

mileage 496; schedules 496-497; frt business 496-498, 500-501; first caboose 499; coal trains 499, 501, 530; new

Mansfield tank house 501; buys B&P interest in Mansfield & Framingham 501-502; consolidates with New Bedford

R. R. to form BCF&NB R. R. 502, 530; paymaster‟s car 511; accident 519

Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R., 310, 536; formed from NB R. R. and BC&F 502, 530-531; psgr and

frt schedules 531-532; coal trains 534, 540; accidents 535, 542, 543; illuminates switchstands 535; special,

excursion and theater trains 539, 541; Mansfield car house 540-541; snow blockade 541; telegraph 543; leased by

Old Colony R. R. 550, 592; combines with Framingham & Lowell 566

Boston, Fitchburg & New Bedford R. R., 494

Boston, Hartford & Erie R. R., 93, 158, 256, 340, 353, 433-435, 438-440, 450, 455, 457, 487, 596

748

Boston Locomotive Works, see Hinkley & Drury Locomotive Co.

Boston, Lowell & Nashua R. R., 553

Boston, Mass., 1, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 24, 32, 33, 34, 39, 48, 50-53, 55, 59, 61, 80, 81, 89, 105, 125, 126, 130, 132,

137, 138, 149, 150, 167, 170, 181, 195, 217, 229, 238, 239, 243, 244, 246, 254, 255, 264, 268-270, 274, 286, 287,

289, 290, 292, 295, 303, 306, 312, 324, 331, 335, 354, 371-373, 386, 388, 412, 433, 438, 439, 449, 450, 469, 471,

493, 495, 505, 506, 510, 526-528, 530, 538, 540, 541, 606, 619, 630; early stage lines 3, 4, 5, 7-8; Royal Exchange

Coffee House 5; tramways 22-24; horse ry terminals 35, 36, 37; S. Boston 35, 364; Upham‟s Corner 36; Back Bay 71, 171, 182, 502; Pleasant St. Station 125, 133, 138, 153, 169, 172, 181, 182, 248, 295, 328, 364, 365, 372, 388,

453, 474, 517, 518; fire fighters‟ train 126-127; first scheduled train 135; Tremont House 168; “Hub of the Universe” 180; Park Square station 181, 309, 517-518, 527, 530, 554-555, 557, 627, 632,665, 666; U. S. r. r. capital

283; telegraph to New York 285, 342; Cunard steamers to E. Boston 286; exodus 311; South Station 309, 518, 555;

telegraph to Providence 342, 343; A. Lincoln visits 344; proposed belt ry 359; depots 365-366, 393; Back Bay

station 371, 555; through trains to New York 418-419, 461, 520-521, 582; Civil War troops return 442-443;

commuter trains 453, 628; 1872 fire 481; third track to Readville 505; whistles curtailed 514; Union Freight R. R.

521; Boylston St. station 532; engine terminal accident 578-579; Kneeland St. (OC R. R.) station 665, 666

Boston, Providence & Taunton R. R., 39, 48, 194

Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn R. R., narrowgauge, 529

Boston Switch (West Jct), 62, 63, 317, 332, 421, 444

Boston to Hudson River, contemplated horse ry, 14, 31-33

Boston, Walpole, Wrentham & Providence stagecoach line, 4

Boston, Wrenthan & Providence R. R., contemplated narrowgauge, 529, 552

Bowman, William, locomotive engr B&P injured as psgr in Bussey bridge wreck, 632

Boyd, Moses L., Conductor Dedham Br. B&P, 325

Boylston St. sta., see Boston

Bradford, R. I., see Westerly

Bradley, (Judge) Charles S., involved in Providence terminal plans, 597

Bragg, George H., locomotive fireman B&P, 599

Braintree, Mass., 471, 655, 673; interlocking switches introduced 646

Brakes, 215-216, 233-234, 346-347, 352, 632; Westinghouse air 509-510, 633

Braley, Martin M., pres. Mansfield Coal & Mining Co., 358

Branchville, see Mansfield

Brayton Pt., see Somerset

Breck, Samuel, dissatisfied psgr B&P, 172, 187

Bridgewater, Mass., 373, 449, 528

Briggs, Alson, bought and moved Mansfield depot, 424

Briggs, Avery S., sawyer B&P, 328

Briggs, Benjamin, Mansfield, 56

Briggs, Edmund, buys land from B&P Mansfield, 452

Briggs, Emerson, sells land to B&P Mansfield, 56,76, 222

Brigham, Charles, architect, 562; see also Sturgis & Brigham

749

Brigham, David T., express service pioneer, 268

Bristol, R. I., 268, 335, 367, 386

British coinage, use of by B&P, 326-327

Brockton (ex-North Bridgewater), Mass., 513, 514, 551, 552, 615-616, 619, 650; Campello 551; North Bridgewater 513

Brookline Branch R. R., 366

Brooks, I. A., supt. of transportation B&P, 397

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 536

Brown, Daniel E., sells land to B&P W. Mansfield, 387

Brown, Herbert, progressive locomotive fireman B&P, 407, 408-409

Brown, James, yard brakeman BCF&NB, 542

Brown, Thomas, psgr injured in Roxbury wreck, 214, 221

Brutcher, John, laborer B&P, 324

Brutcher, John A., sta. agent B&P Mansfield, 574

Bryan, William Jennings, U. S. populist politician, 635

Bryant, E. H., roadmaster OC, 497, 576, 595, 659

Bryant, Foster, coal mine promoter Mansfield, 358-361, 363

Bryant, Gridley, builds Granite Ry., 25-30, 408; bio. 42

Buck, S. E. F., psgr conductor OC, 601

Bulfinch, Charles, architect Boston, 22; bio. 40

Bunker (Breed‟s) Hill and monument, 24, 25, 29

Bunker, (Capt.) Elihu, skipper of President, 17

Burges(s), Tristam, brings Great Seekonk Ry Case, 227-232, 235, 236, 266; bio. 236-237

Burleigh, Edward, sawyer B&P Mansfield, 431

Burrillville, R. I., Pascoag 439

Bury, Edward, English locomotive designer, 157-160, 242, 273, 434

Bushell, Walter M., killed by “Gilt Edge Express” Mansfield, 672 Bussey bridge, 79, 627-635

Bussey bridge wreck, 627-633, 640-641, 650; investigation 633-636; lawsuits 633, 635

Caboose, first seen at Mansfield on OC, 499

Cabot Industrial Park, Mansfield, 362

Cahill, Patrick, killed on r. r., 643

Cambridge, Mass., 344

Campbell, John, killed on r. r., 526

Campello, see Brockton

Camp meetings, 296

Camp Meiggs, Hyde Park (Readville), Mass., 430-431, 441

Camp Miles Standish, Taunton, 471

Canals, 13-15, 30-31; Mother Brook 12; Erie 12, 14, 31; Boston-Millville 13; Boston-Connecticur R. 13; Middlesex 13,

15, 89; Weymouth-Narragansett Bay 13-14; Boston-Albany 14; Blackstone 14, 15, 70, 102, 315, 514; Plymouth-

750

Taunton 14; Hampshire & Hamden Canal Co. 30

Canton, Mass., 10, 53; Washington Hotel (Swan‟s Tavern) 8

Canton (later Canton Jct.), Mass., 8, 53, 79, 82, 91, 116, 118, 131, 132, 134, 138, 170, 212, 263, 274, 306, 311, 324,

330, 334, 346, 351, 471, 515, 520, 527, 551, 581, 649; Canton River valley proposed inclined planes 30, 61; horse

ry survey 35; rock cut 59, 71, 73, 126, 168, 182; unused right-of-way 60; route altered acct J. W. Revere 60, 72;

Beaver Brook 71; proposed inclined planes abandoned 72, 116; Stone factory 120, 135, 136; first train to 1 mile

north of Canton 126; trains expected to reach Canton 4 July 127; first steam train to Canton 135; daily steam train to

Canton to meet Providence stages 135-137; temporary psgr sta. 136; Whistler road trials Boston-Canton 150; editors

and reporters from Providence to Canton by horse car, to Boston by steam 167-168; Boston-Canton by steam,

Providence by horse 169; first steam train Providence-Canton 169; first through train over viaduct 173-174;

temporary sta. replaced by permanent depot 183; Revere Copper Co.185-186, 306, 461, 616-617; brakeman killed in

fall from train 189; Canton grows toward r. r. 203, 542-543; “Steamboat Train” stops 218, 246; Stoughton Br. Junction at Canton 303, 304, 305; Kinsley Iron & Machine Co. 304, 305, 326, 543; South Canton (now Canton) 305,

306, 334, 351, 388, 456, 527, 543, 586; renamed Canton 556, 562, 616, 617; boiler explodes on viaduct 351-352;

Tillson factory 351; J. Silloway replaces O. Deane as sta. agent 441; station photo 461; collision at sta. 488; special

psgr car for Canton-Stoughton 540; depot burglarized 542; J. Silloway 542; attempted theft at sta. 543; Canton

renamed Canton Jct 555-556; S. Noyes annoyed at name change 556; Springdale 617, 619; Forge Pond 649

Canton Junction, Mass., 79, 136, 183, 485, 546, 608, 614, 618-619; name change from Canton 555-556; S. Noyes

dislikeschange 556; “Shore Line Express” nearly wrecked 584; new stone depot 586; new Bolivar St. Bridge 586; trespassers injured or killed 592, 596-597; Deane Coal Co. 616; Kinsley coasl trestle collapses 617; yard tracks

added 617; depot burglarized 645; 1969 wreck 669; new OC R. R. passenger station 671

Canton Meadow, see Fowl Meadow

Canton River (East Branch), see Rivers

Canton viaduct, 63, 75, 139, 150, 153, 168, 171, 182, 205, 264, 331, 671-672; contemplated inclined planes 30, 72, 116;

dedication stone 61, 115-116; Dodd & Baldwin builders 116; specifications and description 116-118, 174-176; earth

fills 118, 168; Scots and Irish workmen 118-119, 120, 175; stone and quarries 119-120; cost of stone 120; ironwork

120; psgrs carried around uncompleted viaduct 136, 167, 170; opened 173; first train across 173-174; upgrades 174,

564; cost of viaduct 176; double tracked 421; boiler explosion on viaduct 351-352, 512, 627

Cape Cod, 652, 653

Capen, George Washington, school supt. Canton killed by r. r. snowplow, 596-597

Capron, Joseph Willard, civil engr, 53, 81

Car builders, 125, 127, 457

Card Co. (later S. W. Card Mfg Co.), Mansfield, 378

Carleton, Guy, Roxbury, 247

Carpenter, E. P., pres. M&F, 457

Carver, Clifford, buys Deane's private psgr sta. Norton, 197

Cat, rides B&P engine Robeson,

“Centennial Train,” Boston-Washington B&P, 530

Central Falls, R. I., 58, 62, 316, 317, 333, 334, 449, 470, 471, 558, 566-567

Central Iron Foundry, Mansfield, 508, 532, 543

751

Chace, Henry A., agent B&P, 578

Chapman, Allen H., supt. NET&T Jamaica Plain, 631, 632

Chappe, Claude, devises telephore system, 63, 342

Charles River, see Rivers

Charlie, faithful horse opens Canton Viaduct, 119, 136, 173, 379

Chartley branch (Attleboro-Attleboro Jct.) r. r., 451, 471, 484, 510, 526, 543; named 600

Chartley (Lane‟s), see Norton

Chase, Charles Elwin, frt agent, yardmaster OC Mansfield, 529, 564, 611, 643-644, 645

Childs, (Capt.) George, skipper of Lexington when burned and sank, 283, 284

Chilson Conical Stove, patented safety stove for passenger cars, 628, 631

Chilson Furnace Co. and safety stoves, see Mansfield Iron Foundry

Chilson, Gardner, foundry owner Mansfield, 382, 383, 455, 508, 628; death 540

Choate, ______, pres. OC R. R., 651, 655

C. H. Parker & Co., see National Bridge & Iron Works

Circus train, Barnum‟s, 609

Citizens Coach Co., 6, 7-8, 187

Civil War, r. r. troop movements, 430, 441

Clarendon Hills, Mass. (Hyde Park, now Boston), 150, 484

Clark, Simeon, blacksmith Mansfield, 379, 455, 473, 607

Clark, William, coal dealer Boston, injured on r. r. Mansfield, 532

Clark‟s Grove, Mansfield, 379

Clifford, (Col.) John Henry, Gov. Mass., atty general, pres. Mass. Senate, pres. B&P, 293-294, 454, 506, 521; bio. 300

Coal shipments, 457, 498, 499, 501, 530, 534, 540, 574, 577, 586, 593, 610, 616-617

Coastal shipping, 16-17

Cobb‟s Corner, see Sharon

Cobb, Samuel Chandler, buildings burned Mansfield, 530

Codding, Elwood, frt agent Mansfield injured on r. r., 554, 611

Codding, (Capt.) James, skipper of coastal schooner, 16

Cochesett, see West Bridgewater

Coffin, John B., locomotive engr BCF&NB, 532

Cohasset, Mass., 365

Comey & Co.,straw hat and basket firm, coal sheds, Mansfield, 566

Commission of Expert Engineers, Providence, 621

Commuting fares and trains, 138, 296, 369, 372, 453, 460, 471-473, 518, 527, 531, 609, 628; commuter service begins

between Boston and Providence 440

Compound locomotive, tried by B&P, 566

Comstock & Co., slaughterhouse, 580

Concord coach, 9-10

Concord Junction, Mass., interlocking switches introduced, 646

Condor, Dennis, killed on r. r., 249

752

Conner, John, blacksmith‟s striker, 379

Cook, (Rev.) R. S., close call at grade crossing Mansfield, 534

Cooke, Jay, financier, 486

Cooper, J. George, food service Boston, 389, 518

Copicut Hill, Fall River, Mass., 308

Copley, John Singleton, English artist, 23

Corey, Charles T., sta. agent NYNH&H, Mansfield, has depot poem 648

Cork, Ireland, home of Irish r. r. laborers, 103, 130

Corliss Engine Works, Providence, 516, 598

Corliss, George H., machine mfr Providence, 597

County Cork, Ireland, home of track laborers, 103

Cox, John T., carriage smashed by engine on crossing Mansfield, 537

Crane‟s, see Norton

Cranston, R. I., Auburn, 317

Crapo, (Judge) Henry A., adjudicated Ruggles case New Bedford, 291-292

Creedon, Daniel, Jr., yard conductor OC killed on r. r. Mansfield, 586

Crocker, George Augustus, founds Taunton Loco. Mfg Co., 318

Crocker, Samuel Leonard, founds Taunton Loco. Mfg Co.,318; bio. 322

Crocker, William Allen, pres. TB, founds Taunton Loco. Mfg Co., 276, 277, 291, 318, 319, 372-373, 406

Crowley, ______, killed on r. r. Hebronville, 580-581

Cruser, Paul, frt agent Mansfield, 611

Cumberland, R. I., 319; Woonsocket 303, 307, 319, 424, 439; contemplated Woonsocket-Mansfield r. r.303, 352; Valley

Falls 439, 567; Lonsdale 449, 455; contemplated r.r. Woonsocket to Providence or Dedham 514

Cummings, Lucius, locomotive engr B&P killed in boiler explosion on Canton viaduct, 351, 352

Cummins, (Rev.) John F., priest assisted at Bussey bridge wreck, 632, 635

Cunard Line, 285, 286

Cunningham, Joseph N., civil engr B&P, 53, 81

Curry, Samuel, rep. BH&E R. R., 440

Curtis, (Atty) George, 182

Curtis, James F., supt B&W killed on r. r., 222

Cuttyhunk Island, Mass., 308

Czar Nicholas I, 355

Daggett, John, atty, historian and legislator Attleborough, objected to B&P, 110, 111, 114

Daily or Daley, James, genl ticket agent B&P, 379, 517

Damrell, Charles, locomotive fireman and engr B&P, 606

Daniel Nason, only existing B&P locomotive, 139, 414, 422, 436-438, 558

Davenport, John, locomotive engr B&P devises engine cab, 296

Davis, D. L., supt of repairs, roadmaster B&P, 324, 577-578

Davis, Isaac T., 25

753

Day, Alfred B., frt agent B&P Mansfield, 530, 534, 561, 650, retires 656

“Day Boat Train” B&P, see Steamboat trains

Day, Sarah, depot doughnut cook Mansfield, 426

Day, (Capt.) William, abolitionist Mansfield, 293

Dean & Davenport, 244, 268

Dean, Asahel, mfr barrel hoops Foxborough, 550

Dean, Elijah, anti-r. r. poet Mansfield, 113-114, 135, 185, 200-203, 212-214, 216, 219-221, 239-240, 249-251, 309

Dean, Oliver, sta. agent Canton, 441

Deane Coal Co., Canton Jct., 616

Deane, Jacob, fruit grower Mansfield, opposes TB, 196-198, 221, 461; bio. 208

Deane‟s sta., see Mansfield

Dedham Branch, 150, 167, 176, 182, 183, 199, 204, 246, 272, 329, 343, 506, 627; kilometer post 77; track-laying begins

137; opens 138; curves and grades 138; cost 138; commuter trains 138, 296, 369, 518, 628; horse-drawn rail cars

138-140, 186, 265; steam power first used 186; employes and payrolls 323-325; fares 327, 369, 372; schedules 369,

372, 527; horse coach ends 521; double tracked 636

Dedham loop, see W. Roxbury loop

Dedham Low Plains, see Readville

Dedham, Mass., 1, 6, 9, 12, 106, 116, 212, 249, 256, 289, 312, 330, 388-389, 412, 5i4, 540, 628, 629, 630, 632; toll

turnpike 7; bypassed by B&P 71, 58-59; stagecoach connections 133, 137; South Dedham (later Norwood) 137, 364,

393; population and industries 137, 364; hotels burn 137; town pays for right-of-way and land 137; A. Lincoln visits

344; W. Roxbury loop 354, 374; Islington 354, 393; East Dedham (Mill Village) 364, 372; Spring St. Station 527;

new psgr station 562

DeGrand, Peter Paul Francis, r. r. expert Boston, 359, 363

Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.,8

Devlin, James, news agent Boston, 441

Devlin, Thomas H., news dealer Boston, 441, 518

DeWolf, William F., baggage express agent B&P, charged in baggage car shoot-out, 484

Diamond Hill, Woonsocket, Cumberland, R. I., 307, 308

Dickens, Charles, B&P locomotives named for novel characters, 474, 480, 489

Dighton, Mass., 585

Dimpfel, F. P., invents boiler, 405-406, 432

Dinsmore, F. F., car inspector BCF&NB Mansfield, 542

Dodd & Baldwin, build Canton viaduct, 116

Dodge, John C., 220

Dodgeville, see Attleborough

Dorchester & Milton Branch R. R., 30

Dorchester, Mass. (now Boston), 344, 364, 393

Dorr, Nathaniel, developer Mansfield, 345

Dorr‟s insurrection, R. I., 295, 301

Doty, (Capt.) Harrison, ex-sea capt Mansfield, knew Hawaiian King Kalakaua I, 518

754

Doty, Henry, frt brakeman B&P injured on r. r., 581, 606

Double tracking, 272, 313, 330-331, 421, 449, 497, 579, 607-608, 613, 635

Douglass, Frederick, abolitionist journalist and speaker, 293-294, 454, 506; bio. 299

Doyle Commission, see Providence

Doyle, Thomas A., mayor Providence, 488

Drawing room car, 538

Drew, Daniel, buys steamboat line with Comm. Vanderbilt, 274

Drummy, James, killed on r. r. Dodgeville, 593

Duguid, Peter, interlocking supervisor Mansfield, 670

Dumaine, Frederic C. “Buck,” Jr., pres. NYNH&H, 78

Dunbar, James, treas. SBr. R. R., 304

Dunbar‟s Ledge and Quarry, Canton, 119, 120

Dunham, Davis, sta. restaurant Mansfield, 202, 394

Dwight, Edmund D., textile mill magnate, 194; bio. 207

Eager, Winslow, crossing watchman OC Mansfield, 656

Earle, D. B., express man, 244, 268, 270

Earle, L. B., express man, 244, 268, 270

Earle‟s Express Co., 268

East Attleborough, see Attleborough

East Dedham, see Dedham

Eastern R. R., 290, 366, 521

East Foxboro(ugh), Mass. (Foxborough), 133, 183, 245, 290, 292, 293, 306-308, 312, 334, 351, 381, 460, 461, 480, 485,

509, 560, 614, 670, 671

East Junction, Mass. (Attleborough), 62, 333, 421, 534, 560

East Mansfield, see Mansfield

Easton, Mass., 387, 449, 450, 615, 616, 619, 620, 650

Easton Branch R. R., 305, 387, 393, 449, 450, 471

East Providence, R. I., 152, 432, 560, 594, 627

East Thompson, Ct., 380

East Thompson R. R., 379, 393, 412

East Walpole, see Walpole

Eberle, Charles, entertainer lost aboard Lexington, 284

Edgemoor Iron Co., 564

Eldred, George, locomotive fireman NYP&B killed in Richmond Switch wreck, 483

Ellis, John W., rep. P&W R. R., 579

Emery, Isaac, wood dealer, 328

Engine failures, 159-160

England, 673

English locomotives, 87, 90, 91

755

English monetary units used by B&P R. R. in accounting, purchasing, and wages, 325-327

Erie Canal, see Canals

Erie R. R., 379, 439, 440, 450, 455, 456

Estus, Joseph, laborer B&P, 324

Excursion trains, B&P 125-127, 486, 538-539, 541, 553, 554, 576; TB 205

Express business, 244, 267-271, 378, 435

Fairbanks, Willard Walcott, mechanic, agent Taunton Loco. Mfg. Co., 318

Fairhaven Branch R. R., 432, 530

Fall River & Providence Steamer Line, 366

Fall River & Warren R. R., 432

Fall River Branch R. R., 303, 310

Fall River R. R., 310, 365, 373, 550

Fall River steamship line, 255, 335, 550-551

Fall River (Troy), Mass., 39, 244, 255, 303, 310, 331, 335, 354, 369, 371, 373, 386, 449, 471, 483, 652, 653, 660, 666

Fall River, Warren & Providence R. R., 432, 482-483; B. & P. R. R. sells to O. C. R. R. 521

Fares and fare classes, 126, 186, 188, 189, 205, 212, 254, 274, 290, 292, 312, 326-327, 351, 368-370, 371

Ferries, see Steamboat connections, ferries and trains

Fillebrown, Noah, teamster Mansfield, 11, 16, 56, 58, 199

Finn, Harry, entertainer lost aboard Lexington, 284

Fisher, Ebenezer, Jr., helps finance construction B&P, 71

Fisk, (Col.) James, Jr., Jubilee Jim,” Erie R. R., 456

Fitchburg & Worcester R. R., 374, 412, 451, 493

Fitchburg, Mass., 469, 486, 494, 496, 497, 499, 507, 508, 513, 514, 537, 539, 553, 609, 652; interlocking switches

introduced 646

Fitchburg R. R., 365-366, 394, 521, 553

Fitzgerald, William, laborer B&P, 324, 325

Flahaven, David, section man B&P, 510

Flass, Samuel B., frt conductor B&P, 606

Foley, William, blacksmith‟s assistant Mansfield, 379

Folsom, A. A., supt B&P from 1857, 452, 506, 514, 521, 528, 532, 539, 540, 542, 576, 577, 582, 634, 642, 651; clears

wreck 486

Folsome, G. F., signal box at B&W crossing, 501

Forest Hills (Boston), 7, 78, 354, 364, 556, 609, 627, 629, 630, 632, 636; Toll Gate 247, 296

For(r)ester, George, English locomotive bldr, 158, 160, 242, 273, 390

Foster, George S., bldr Mansfield, 508

Fowl (Canton or Neponset) Meadow, 35, 59, 72, 73, 150, 182; flooded in 1886 freshet 614

Foxborough, Mass. (see also East Foxborough), 4, 7, 34, 62, 72, 182, 199-200, 203, 212, 346, 451, 509, 541, 557, 558,

581, 603; rejects B&P through center 56, 319; East Foxboro 62, 105, 244, 480, 509; B&P survey 134; East Foxboro

659, 670, 671; psgr station 183, 244; stagecoach connections 187, 468, 601; meeting point of trains 215, 246, 248;

756

Foxvale (Paineburg, Rockdale) 309-310, 458, 473, 541, 584; South Foxboro 311; hat business 378, 425;

Foxborough Br. R. R. Survey 434; psgr station 451-452, 480; Mansfield & Framingham R. R. first train 457-458; r r.

curves and grades 458; silver spike ceremony 468; r. r. facilities 468-469; schedules 497, 528, 531, 533, 600-601;

accident 519; double track 607

Foxborough Branch R. R., 434, 451, 493, 607

Fox Point, see Providence

Framingham & Lowell R. R., 494, 550, 566; opens 469

Framingham, Mass., 303, 451, 467, 468, 469, 493, 494, 496-497, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 531, 532, 536, 539, 541, 553,

579, 587; South Framingham interlocking switches introduced 646

Franklin, Mass., 312, 329, 354, 388, 434, 616

French, George, locomotive engr B&P, 620

Frost, George, locomotive engr B&P, 483

Fuel, locomotive, 402-405, 422-423, 431, 440, 501, 515; coke 91, 127; wood 91, 256, 265, 272, 309, 327-328, 409;

anthracite coal 92-93, 125, 156, 573-574, 577; coal 161, 408; costs 403, 423, 600; oil 515-516, 620; coal burning

engine Wm Robeson on Shore Line Express 573

Fuller, Daniel, blacksmith Canton, 120

Fuller Iron Works, Providence, 255

Fulton, Robert, Jr., steamboat pioneer, 12

Gaffney, John, loses arm on r. r. Canton, 592

Gaffney, William, lived in former union sta. Mansfield, 494

Gallup, Charles, Adams Express agent Mansfield 594

Gardner, Charles, food service Boston, 518

Garfield, (Pres.) James A., 563-564, 575

Garrison, William Lloyd, abolition activist and publisher, 292, 293

Gauss, (Johann) Karl Friedrich, German mathematician, invented the heliotrope used in U. S. Coast

Survey, 308

Geddis, G. C., locomotive engr OC, 575

Gilbert, David, attorney Mansfield, 424

Gleason, Joseph L., psgr trainman B&P killed on r. r. Canton, 189

Glidden, Ira F., psgr conductor B&P, 397

Globe Locomotive Works, S. Boston, 93, 435

Goddard Commission, see Providence

Goddard, Thomas P. I., director B&P, 577; bio. 589n

Goddard, (Col.) William, of Goddard Comm., Providence, 572, 620

Gould, Jay, r. r. stock manipulator, 456

Granite Ry, 22, 23-30, 32, 72, 74, 116; chartered and incorporated 26; opens 28; fatal accident 29-30

“Granite State Express,” OC train Mansfield to New Hampshire, 587

Grant, Mrs. Clara, telegrapher Mansfield, 602

Grant, Ulysses S., ex-U. S. pres., 538, 563

757

"Great Cold Storm" of 1857, 394-395

“Great Freshet” of 1886, 613-614

"Great Gale" (hurricane) of 1869, 455-456

Great Meadow Hill, Rehoboth, Mass., 308

Great Seekonk Railway Case, 227-237

Green, (Rev.) Roland, Mansfield, 424

Green, Theodore Francis, Senator R. I., 228

Greene, James, sta. agent Mansfield, 184, 309, 343, 344, 345, 394, 418, 424, 642

Greenfield, William, carpenter B&P, 324, 325

Green Lodge sta., Mass. (Dedham), 421

Green, M. P and M. E., coach makers, Hoboken, N. J., build first psgr cars for B&P, 125

Greenport, L. I., N. Y., 218, 238

Greenwich, R. I., 334

Griggs, George S., master mechanic B&P, 149, 159, 173, 272, 276, 323, 390, 391, 410, 413, 422, 456, 489, 535, 541,

578, 602, 613; recommended by G. Whistler, hired by R. Lee 131, 137, 155; repairs Whistler 132; ancestry, bio.

154-155; begins psgr car mfr 263, 274; builds first loco. 312-313; builds other locos 317-318, 340, 353, 414-415,

434, 440, 450, 452, 454, 455; interest in Taunton Loco. Mfg Co. 319, 341; salary 325; loco. brakes 346-347, 352;

wood cushion wheels 364, 409, 453; builds tank locos 374, 412; patents traction increaser 374; uses Stephenson

reverse gear 375; patents firebrick arch 407-409; rocking and dumping grates 408; patents diamond stack 408-409;

rebuilds other r. r. locos 415; contributions to loco. design 423, 454; builds Daniel Nason 436-437; death 467

G. S. Griggs, locomotive B&P, boiler explodes 390-392, renamed King Philip, 390-392

Grinnell, Joseph, pres. NB&T, 267, 289, 316, 372, 434, 602; bio. 279

Groton, Ct., 380, 397, 419, 433, 672

Grout, Jonathan, devised telephore system, 63-64

Grover, Elwood, track employe B&P 510

Grover, (Dea.) Ephraim, W. Mansfield, 308

Grover, Hiram, wagon struck by train, 250

Grover, Hosea, grants coal spur right-of-way W. Mansfield, 190, 361

Grover, Lucy, grants coal spur right-of-way W. Mansfield, 361

Grover, Quincy, extinguishes fire set by engine W. Mansfield, 240

Guild, William D., locomotive engr NYB&P killed in Richmond Switch wreck, poem by Bret Harte, 483

Hale, Nathan, pres. B&W, 156

Hall, Jere., clerk Mansfield Coal & Mining Co., 358

Hamilton, Henry C., frt agent Mansfield, 611

Hampshire & Hamden Canal, see Canals

Handy, Charles Overing, pres. New Jersey Steam Navigation Co., 269, 270

Harbor Junction (later Junction), R. I., 334

Hardon, Almond C., grants coal spur right-of-way W. Mansfield, 361

Hardon (Harding), Amasa, grants right-of-way to B&P, 81, 361

758

Hardon, Charles W., grants coal spur right-of-way W. Mansfield, 361

Hardon, Nathan, grants coal spur right-of-way W. Mansfield, 361

Hardon, William D., grants coal spur right-of-way W. Mansfield, 361

Harnden, Adolphus, express messenger lost aboard Lexington, 283, 284

Harnden, William Frederick, founded express service, 268-271, 283, 284, 285

Harris, William A., Providence, 573

Harrigan, Joseph, milk wagon smashed by train Mansfield, 593

Harrison, Joseph, mechanical engr American Steam Carriage Co., Philadelphia, 155

Hartford & New Haven R. R., 480

Hartford & Providence R. R., 355

Hartford, Ct., 2, 672

Hartford, Providence & Fishkill R. R., 355, 379, 389, 412, 433, 438, 487

Hartwell & Swasey, architects, 517

Hartwell, David, civil engr Mansfield, 361

Hartwell, Henry, locomotive engr OC, 610

Hartwell, L. R., locomotive engr BCF&NB, 542

Hatch, (Col.) Israel, keeps Steam Boat Hotel N. Attleborough, 5, 6, 9, 51, 57-58

Hawkins, Charles, brakeman Dedham Br. B&P, 325

Hayes, (Pres. U. S.) Rutherford B., stops at Mansfield, 537-538

Hayward, Esther, W. Mansfield, 190

Hayward, George W., grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190

Hayward, James, civil engr, 33, 34, 48, 53, 54, 57; bio. 45

Healey, B. W., former supt R. I. Locomotive Works, 520

Heath St. sta., Mass. (Boston), 461, 527, 606

Hendley, James, devises baggage checks, 186

Henigin, Daniel, laborer B&P, 324, 325

Hewins, Edward H., designed Bussey bridge, 628, 633-634, 641

Hewitt, Adelbert, frt conductor B&P killed on r. r., 594

Hicksville, L. I., N. Y., temp. terminal LI R. R., 246

Hillhouse, James A., canal lobbyist, 31

Hillman, R. T., frt conductor OC, 575

Hinckley, J., Supt of Transportation B&P, 324

Hinkley & Drury Locomotive Co. (Boston Locomotive Works), Boston, 313, 423, 444, 453, 454, 566

Hinkley, Holmes, locomotive bldr Boston, 454

Hodges, Frank H., killed on r. r., 586

Hodges, L. M. & H. G., bldrs Mansfield, 486, 508

Hodges, Velorous B., close call at grade crossing W. Mansfield, 534, 537

Hodsdon, Green, conductor SBr., 393

Holley, Henry, architect, 444

Hog(g) bridge, 470, 606

759

Holmes, Jesse, sta. agent Stoughton, 304

Holmes, Joseph, 6

Hoosac tunnel, 381, 537

Hopkins & Bryant Switch and Frog Co. Taunton, 576; install switches Mansfield 595

Hoplins, Henry N., master blacksmith OC Taunton, 576

Horse vs steam, 58

Hotels, see Taverns

Hoyt, Isaiah, supt 4th div. B&P, 324

Hoyt, William, carpenter B&P, 326

Hurdy, Stephen, laborer B&P, 324

H. W. Clark, slaughterhouse Providence, 580

Hyde Park, Mass. (now Boaton), 484, 553, 562

I. B. Mason & Son, slaughterhouse Providence, 580

Ide, Timothy P., forms West Boston & East Providence R. R. Co., 227

Indians, 539, 543, 554

India Point, see Providence

Interlocking switches and signals introduced on OC 646

Interstate Commerce Commission, 365, 621

Irish immigrants and laborers, 15, 102-104, 119, 120, 171, 195, 198

Islington, see Dedham

Jackson, Patrick T., director B&P, 52, 115

Jackson, William, lobbyist Western R. R., 33

Jamaica Plain(s), Mass. (Boston), 182, 296, 351, 371, 372, 461, 470, 606, 631

James Brown & Co., Liverpool, Eng., 159

Janes, Mark, rescues James Bellew in handcar accident W. Mansfield, 510

Janus, double-ended locomotive tried by B&P, 467, 474, 477-479

Jervis, John Bloomfield, master mechanic Mohawk & Hudson R. R., 241

“Jim Crow” cars, 290-294

John Ward & Co., 244

Jones, C. A., frt conductor, yardmaster OC Mansfield, 587, 643

Jones, Henry, killed on r. r., 539

Johnston, George, locomotive fireman B&P, 620

Kalakaua I, King of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), 517-519

Kendrick, J. R., mgr OC, 611

Kervin, William, killed on r. r., 249

Kilometers and kilometer posts, 77-79, Appen. H, 704-707

King, A. D., coal dealer Mansfield, 596

760

King, Artemas, grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190

King, Edward, baggagemaster B&P, 582

King, J. G., director B&P, 115

King, L. R. & Sons, livery stable Mansfield, 649

King Philip (Metacomet), Wampanoag chief, 272

Kingsbury, O. S., carpenter B&P, 324, 325

Kingston, R. I., 252, 334; West Kingston 483

Kinsley Iron & Machine Co., Canton, 304-306, 385, 610, 617

Kinsley, Lyman, owns Iron & Machine Co. Canton, 303, 305, 326

Knight, Robert, on Providence Goddard Comm., 572

“Know Nothing Station (or) Stop,” 389, 646

Ladd, R. E., trackmaster OC, 615

Lailor, W. R., policeman killed in Bussey bridge wreck, 633

La Fayette, Marquis de, assists at Bunker Hill monument, 24

Lakeville, Mass., 539

Lane, Charles D., sawmill operator, Chartley, 526

Lane, Isaac, house moved from path of B&P, 129, 134, 199, 221, 222, 358

Lane‟s bridge, see Skinner‟s bridge

Lane‟s sawmill, Chartley (Norton), Mass., 526

Lane‟s sta. (Chartley), see Norton

Lang, Edwin, car inspector B&P Mansfield, 539, 542

Lauder, J. N., locomotive supt OC, 669

Lawrence, Amos, incorporator Granite Ry., 25

Leahy, John, laborer B&P, 324, 325

Lee, William Raymond, civil engr and supt B&P, 81, 106, 133, 173, 218, 238, 241, 243, 244, 360, 361, 367, 508; ass‟t engr 53; assists on viaduct 116; hires G. Griggs 131, 155; lives in Dedham 137; lectured by Pres. Woolsey 217;

designs rails 272, 313, 421; retires 383; visits Mansfield 541; bio. 718-719

Leonard, L., frt conductor BC&F, 498

Leonard, William “Bill,” sawyer Mansfield, 431

Left-hand operation , on B&P 449, 623 n. 16; on O. C. R. R. 610

Lexington, see Steamboats

Lightner, John, master car builder B&P, 139, 481

“Lightning train,” see “Shore Line Express,”

Lincoln, (Cong.) Abraham, rides New England trains, 343-347, 418, 423-424

Lincoln, B. F., psgr conductor BCF&NB, 513, 514, 541, 601

Lincoln, early locomotive B&P, 88, 91, 92, 115, 125, 127, 133, 435

Lincoln, Frederick Walter, pres. SBr., 60, 304, 305, 456

Lincoln, Levi, Jr., Gov. Mass., 344

Lincoln, R. I., 334, 471

761

Lippitt, Charles W., on Providence Goddard Comm., 572, 598

Livingston, Robert R., steamboat pioneer, 17

Locks & Canals Corporation on the Merrimack River, Proprietors of, locomotive assemblers and bldrs, 89, 90, 131, 207,

318, 355, 423; assembles first engine in New England 88; George Griggs machinist at 155, 312; builds B&P R. R.

engines 159-160, 256, 391, 414, 422, 435, 457, 565; builds TB R. R. engines 206, 257, 276, 288

Logan, Barney, frt brakeman B&P, 606

Long-Island R. R., 51, 81, 238, 246

Long, J. D., Gov. Mass., 563

Long, Stephen Harriman, locomotive bldr, 92, 155; bio. 99-100

Lonsdale, see Cumberland

Loring, John F., director B&P, 52, 115. 217, 241, 243, 244

Lothrop, Howard, incorporator Easton Br. R. R., 387

Lovell's grain mill, Mansfield, 564

Lovell, Isaac, Mansfield, killed on r. r. E. Foxborough, 480

Lowell, Amory, sells land to B&P Heath St., 461

Lowell & Framingham R. R., 566; consolidated with OC 593

Lowell, Mass., 13, 39, 88, 180, 206, 283, 329, 344, 494, 496, 497, 499, 539, 553, 652

Lowney, Walter, chocolate mfr, benefactor Mansfield, 482, 607

L. R. King & Son, livery stable Mansfield, 608

Lyman, W. H., psgr conductor OC, 601

Mail, U. S., and mail trains, 2, 5, 8-10, 188, 243, 264, 275, 276-277, 505, 527, 536, 564, 594, 601, 609,

Mallett, (Gen.), postmaster Providence, 243

Mann, G. A., mail clerk injured on r. r., 536

Mannex (Bunker Hill) quarry, 24, 26

Manomet, see Plymouth

Mansfield & Framingham R. R., 497, 501, 653; chartered, takes over F. Br. R. R. 451, 493; opens 457-458; curves and

grades 458; builds Mansfield roundhouse 459; completed to S. Framingham 468, 494; leased to BC&F R. R. 469,

494; B&P buys stock 470; proposed Taunton extension 495; earnings 500; absorbed by BC&F R. R. 501-502

Mansfield Coal & Mining Co., 358, 360, 361-363

Mansfield Iron Foundry (Chilson Furnace Co.), Mansfield, 378, 382, 383, 455, 478, 482, 561, 564, 622, 643, 646;

Chilson safety car stoves 628, 631

Mansfield, Mass., 4-5, 15-16, 35, 37, 56, 71, 72, 91, 105, 127-130, 132, 134, 180, 212, 218, 246, 274, 287, 308-310,

331, 354, 371, 378-379, 381, 386, 394, 419, 431, 435-436, 441, 450, 455, 459, 460, 469, 480, 481-482, 485, 486,

495, 496-497, 498, 499, 501, 502, 505, 506, 507, 508, 511, 512, 513, 514-515, 517-518, 519, 530, 531-538, 540-

541, 544, 553, 556, 557, 559, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 575, 576, 578, 581, 586, 587, 593, 594-595, 597, 598, 607,

608, 609, 611, 612, 617-618, 623, 643, 645, 649, 652, 657, 663, 669, , 671; coal and coal mines 17, 93, 345, 358-

363; W. Mansfield bog 63, 73, 75, 129-132, 133, 150, 151, 168, 176, 205, 318; track sinks 130, 131; West Mansfield

149, 152, 184-185, 189, 249, 251, 358, 362, 381, 408, 421, 449, 452, 453, 510, 527, 556, 557, 573, 582-583, 587,

599-600, 614, 659; first revenue psgr train 169; passing siding 172; first psgr sta. (Greene‟s) 183-184, 202, 244;

762

Tobit‟s sta. 184-185; fare to Boston 186; Taunton Br. 194, 199-200, 204; Jacob Deane obstructs Taunton Br. 196-

197; Deane‟s sta. 197-198, 473; “Dublin” 198; central or union psgr sta. 201-203, 424; B&P-TB connection 204,

344-345; Taunton Br. opens 205; woods and grass fires set by engines 239, 240, 485, 560-561, 640; r. r. employes

favor slavery 244; Mulberry tavern fails acct r. r. 288; contemplated Mansfield-Woonsocket r. r. 303, 552; r. r. brings

new business 311; contemplated Mansfield-Foxborough-Cumberland r. r. 319; wood deliveries 327-328; double

track Mansfield-Sharon 330-331; telegraph 342, 612; A. Lincoln at Mansfield 344-345; “Branchville” 345; contemplated Sawyer coal mine spurs 358-363; Tobit‟s 362, 363, 369, 411; daily trains 372-373; hat shipments 378;

Mansfield Iron Foundry (Chilson Furnace Co.) 382-383, 643, 646; Tobit‟s renamed W. Mansfield 418; brick psgr sta. 424-426, 472, 478, 479, 511, 536, 542, 561, 584, 609, 613, 642, 648; 7th Volunteer Infantry 430; wood sawyers

431; Foxboro Br. chartered 434; B&P frt sta. 434; double track Mansfield-West Jct. 449; Mansfield & Framingham

chartered 451; first train Mansfield-Foxborough 456-457; roundhouse 459, 472, 515, 536, 577, 582, 596, 618;

manufacturers 482; petition for East St. Sta. 499-500; psgr sta. fire 509; first scheduled train non-stop through

Mansfield 510; wells and pumps 511, 558, 562, 598; depot restaurant 512; contemplated Mansfield-Brockton r. r.

513-514, 551-552, 615-616, 619-620; contemplated locomotive works 520; signal house 540; car house 541; OC frt

house 559, 611, 612, 614; OC yard 586, 608, 610, 612, 644, 645; psgr sta. burglaries 594, 596; Adams Express

office removed 594; 1886 freshet 614; E. Mansfield 615, 616, 619; old frt sta. 618; Austin goose farm 619; switch

house 622; new OC frt house 641-642; poem about passenger depot 648; interlocking signals and switches, new

tower, 646, 649, 655, 657-658, 660, 669-671; interlocking work suspended 650; collision near W. Mansfield 650-

651; wye track 650, 659-660; derailment 651; new turntable 659; turntable breaks 663-664; 1926 “Owl” wreck 671 Manton Windlass & Steam Steerer Co., Mansfield, 595, 617

Manuel, Willard, civil engr, r. r. contractor, supt 3rd div. B&P, 324, 325, 358, 360, 361, 381; bio. 375

Marden, Charles, locomotive engr “Tin Kettle” train B&P, 558

Manton, (Col.) Joseph P., owns windlass co. Mansfield, 595

Marshall, Isaac N., supt Providence Div. OC, 666

Martha‟s Vineyard, Mass., 295, 308, 538, 539, 543, 550, 652

Martin, Daniel Jr., W. Mansfield, 363

Mason Machine Works, see William Mason & Co.

Mason, William, locomotive bldr Taunton, 314, 385, 386, 421, 445, 457, 467, 477-479

Massachusetts Board of R. R. Commissioners, 554-555, 633-635

Massachusetts railroad mileage, 366, 368, 410, 459-460, 474

McAlpine, Charles A. “Mac,” frt agent OC Mansfield, supt Northern Div. OC, supt Fitchburg Div. NYNH&H, 472, 534, 543, 587, 611, 618

McDavott, William, laborer B&P, 324, 325

McGinnis, Patrick J., pres. NYNH&H, 78

McNeill, (Capt./Maj.) William Gibbs, chief engr, supt B&P, 38, 56, 57, 58, 60-63, 71-73, 82, 89, 92, 102, 128, 130,

132, 133, 137, 168, 173-175, 306, 307, 329, 330, 335, 341, 358, 421, 439, 527; hired as B&P chief engr. 52;

becomes B&P supt. 54-55; uses wood ties 74-75; breveted major 81; reacts to strike 105-106; designs and builds

Canton viaduct 116-118; submits report on Providence terminal land 182; builds Stonington Ry 238, 252; general

of R. I. Militia 295; engine named for him 480; bio. 709-711

Meadowbrook (Norton Furnace), see Norton

763

Mechanicsville, Ct., 388, 412, 433, 439

Medfield, Mass., 378, 451, 467; interlocking switches introduced at Medfield Jct 646

Medway Branch R. R., 388

Medway, Mass., 388

Mellen, Charles Sanger, pres. NYNH&H, 505

Mendon, Mass., 7

Merchants Bank of Boston, 244, 283-285

Merrill, Edward S., first operator Mansfield interlocking tower, 670

Merrill, William, frt agent Mansfield, 611

Metropolitan Bridge Co., 628, 633, 634

Middleboro, Mass., 487, 496

Middleboro R. R. Corp., 310

Middlesex Canal, see Canals

Middletown, Ct., 329, 672

Midland Land Damage Co., 426, 433

Midland R. R., 364, 379, 393, 412, 426, 433, 434, 450

Mill Village, see Dedham

Millville, Mass., 331

Mills & Co., 194, 314, 410

Mills, James Kellogg, textile magnate, investor TB, 194; bio. 207

Milton, Mass., 24, 308

Minot, Charles F., N. Y. & Erie R. R. official, first to use telegraph for train orders, 343

Minot, Samuel L., rep. B&P, 579

Mitchell, Lorenzo, bridge worker, 326

Mixed trains, 229, 249, 273

Mohawk & Hudson River R. R., 241

Monroe, George, companion A. Lincoln, 344

Moody, David, incorporator Granite Ry., 25

Moran & Fulton, cutlery mfrs Mansfield, 482

Moran, William N., frt agent B&P Mansfield, 656

Morgan, John Pierpont, financier and banker, controlled NYNH&H, 505

Morse, Robert E., owns Moyle quarry Sharon, 119

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, develops magnetic telegraph, 342, 583

Morton, Joseph, seaman killed by r. r. snowplow Canton, 597

Morton, (Gov.) Marcus T., 287; bio. 297

Morton, Nathaniel, director SBr., 305

Mother Brook, see Canals

Mount Hope, Mass. (Boston), 562

Mowry, Charles H., hat mfr Mansfield, variety store burns, 452

Moyle‟s or Welsh quarry, produced stone for Canton viaduct,119-120

764

Murphy, James, frt conductor killed on r. r., 594

Myrick‟s (Berkley), Mass., 266, 296, 303, 310, 353

Nantucket, Mass., 550

Narrow gauge railroads, 528-529

Nason, Daniel, supt B&P 1853-1857, 304, 383, 387, 441, 538, 542

Nason, "Ham," psgr conductor B&P, 538, 607

National Bridge and Iron Works (C. H. Parker & Co.), E. Boston, 518

Nay, George S., brakeman OC killed on r. r., 608

Neath & Brecon Ry, Wales, 477

Nelson, T. H., police officer Mansfield, 515

Neponset River, see Rivers

Neptune steamer line, 443

New Bedford & Nantucket steamer line, 366

New Bedford & Taunton R. R., 206, 289, 303, 310, 331, 347, 355, 366, 500, 530, 602; organized, construction 267, 286;

Thoreau rides 267; completion 286-287; construction cost 288; Ruggles case 291; dividends 314, 319, 343; acquires

Weir Br. R. R. 330; revenues 353; officers 372; acquires Chartley branch r. r. 471; deeded to New Bedford R. R.

494; operating agreement with Taunton Branch 495

“New Bedford Express,” 436, 439, 599

New Bedford, Mass., 8, 106, 195, 26, 267, 276, 286, 288, 291-292, 293, 295, 312, 319, 335, 354, 369, 372, 381, 403,

436, 457, 469, 471, 484, 493-498, 500, 502, 510, 528, 530, 538, 542, 595, 652, 653, 660, 666, 669; first train 287;

Lincoln speaks at 344; train schedules 373; coal shipments 498, 499, 501, 534

New Bedford R. R., 432, 496; chartered, acquires NB&T R.R. 494; extends to New Bedford wharf 498; new Taunton

freight depot 499; concolidates with TB R. R. 500, 506; consolidates with BC&F R. R. 502, 530

New Castle Mfg Co., 242

New Haven & New London R. R., 345, 380, 397, 419

New Haven, Ct., 345, 379, 397, 419, 433, 511, 519, 528, 586

New Haven, Middletown & Willimantic R. R., 519-520

New Haven, New London & Stonington R. R., 397, 419, 433

New Jersey Steam Navigation Co., 269, 270, 283, 284

New London & Stonington R. R., 380, 397, 419

New London, Ct., 268, 380, 388, 397, 419, 433, 528, 663, 672

Newport, R. I., 8-9, 16, 17, 51, 172, 252, 254, 269, 386, 394, 449, 506, 585, 653, 666

Newton, Mass., 114-115, 326

New York & Boston Transportation [steamship] Co., 180, 228, 229, 252, 255, 269, 283

New York & Erie R. R., 343

New York & Harlem R. R., 345

New York & Hartford R. R., 355

New York & New England R. R., 646, 672

765

New York & New Haven R. R., 345, 480

New York & Stonington R. R., 80

New York, Brockton & Boston Canal Co., see Canals

New York Central R. R., 483

New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R., 78, 275, 309, 310, 317, 333-334, 405, 419, 422, 424, 438, 452, 453, 456, 472,

485, 516, 528, 555, 663, 665, 669; formed 480; wrecked by J. P. Morgan 505; leases B&NY Air Line R. R. 586;

Shore Line 666, 672, 673; leases OC R. R., converts OC. to right-hand running 673; assumes B&P lease 674

New York, Newport, Fall River & Boston Steamer Line, 366

New York, N. Y., 2, 14, 17, 31, 137, 167, 195, 215, 228, 230, 248, 253, 254, 263, 273, 283, 291, 329, 331, 354, 358, 371,

379, 380, 389, 423, 430, 443, 482, 497, 506, 513, 516, 521, 560, 587, 607, 622, 652, 655, 665, 666, 672, 673; NY-

Boston stagecoaches 2, 5-6, 9, 15, 169; NY-Boston boat-stagecoaches 7-8, 11, 16; NY-Boston boat-train 51, 57, 70,

80, 81, 171, 180, 187, 255, 289, 295, 537; NY-Boston boat-stagecoach-train 135, 169; L.-I. R. R. to NY 238; NY-

Providence mail 243; NY-Boston shore line route 252, 345, 461, 527, 528; NY-Boston express service 268-270; NY-

Boston frt service 274-275; NY-Boston telegraph 285, 342; newspapers 285-286; railroads in NY 341; NY-

Stonington boats profit 365; NY-Boston “air line” train service 388, 520; I. Stearns goes to NY 419-420; NY-Boston

rail-ferry service 419; in Blizzard of „88 663; Grand Central Depot 670 New-York, Providence & Boston (“Stonington”) R. R., 51-52, 80, 121, 153, 182, 252, 255, 273, 275, 286, 295, 315, 329,

331, 332, 365, 366, 380, 388, 424, 425, 506, 560, 597, 621; embankment sinks 131; under construction 238;

chartered, organized, opens 251; “Steamboat Train” 253, 274; daily mail train 264; express service 269; builds Auburn-Providence link to B&P R. R. 317; first through “Steamboat Train” 334; ferry to B&P R. R. discontinued

335;leases NHNL&S R. R., first Boston-New York train 419; fare classes 420

Nichols, Ira G., psgr conductor BCF&NB, 538

Nichols, Lyman, trustee M&F, 217, 458

Nicholson, William T., alderman Providence, 597

Norfolk, first B&P locomotive built by G. S. Griggs, 312-313, 467

Norfolk & Bristol Turnpike, and Turnpike Co., 6, 7, 11

Norfolk County R. R., 156, 257, 329, 330, 343, 346, 354, 364, 365, 373, 392, 393, 412, 415, 450, 530

Norfolk, Mass., 354

Norris, Edward W., frt clerk B&P died after Bussey bridge wreck, 632

Norris, William, locomotive bldr American Steam Carriage Co., 92, 127, 155-157, 160, 167, 169, 241, 272

North American Royal Mail Packet Co., 285

North Attleboro, Mass. (originally part of Attleborough), 138, 439, 450, 451, 455, 460, 578, 581, 582, 613, 627

Northborough, Mass., 451, 493

North Bridgewater, see Brockton

North Carolina, B&P woodlands in, 404

North Easton, Mass., 387, 393, 449, 450, 471, 616

Northern Adirondack R. R., 353, 596, 613

North Providence, R. I., 432

Norton, Mass., 134, 194, 203, 289, 292, 308, 312, 526; baggage checks mfd in copper rolling mill 186; TB relocated

through Norton, first psgr sta. 196; Upjohn designs psgr sta. 386, 444; Chartley 451, 471; Chartley branch

766

completed 471; Barrowsville 471, 510; Meadowbrook (Norton Furnace) 471; Crane‟s 499; Lane‟s sta. 510, 526; derailment 543; Lane‟s changed to Chartley 600

Norwich & New York Transportation Co., 393

Norwich & Worcester R. R., 286, 318, 344, 388, 393, 439, 454

Norwich, Ct., 389

Norwood (ex-South Dedham), Mass., 61, 55, 137, 175, 330, 364

Nottage, William, car checker Mansfield OC, 645

Noyes, Samuel, annoyed at renaming Canton sta., 556

Old Colony & Newport Ry, 24, 27, 29, 449, 450, 471, 494, 506, 550

Old Colony R. R. Co., 255, 309, 310, 383, 386, 412, 421, 422, 437, 452, 453, 467, 472, 480, 506, 516, 551, 557, 564,

575, 577, 580, 594-595, 598, 606, 610, 614, 616, 644, 649, 651, 652; mileage 365; B&P tries to cut off OC port

access 432; enlarges Mansfield roundhouse 459; chartered, name change from OC & Newport 494; covets TB 496;

buys Union Frt R. R. With B&P 521; buys FRW&B from B&P 521; fares 539; new crossing whistle 552; divisions

553, 611; “running switches” 554; builds frt house Mansfield 559, 611, 612; train parts 562; collision 562-3; new

train signals 566; schedules 584, 600-601; acquires BCF&NB R. R. 592; consolidates with L&F 593; superior

service 600; double track Mansfield-Foxborough 607; extends Mansfield yard 608; left-hand running 610; night

switcher and yardmaster Mansfield 612; pay raises 614; dynograph track inspection car 617; wage increase 640;

proposed lease of B&P R. R. 649, 650; Mansfield frt house takes over B&P business 650; takes over PW&B R. R.

650; double track Taunton-Mansfield 650, 655-656, 660; leases B&P R. R. 651-655, 665, 666, 667; company

officers after B&P lease 668-669; new grade crossing whistle 669; introduces containers on flat cars 671; first New

England dining car 672; “New Limited Express” (later “Gilt Edge”) inaugurated 672; changes B&P to left-hand

running 672-673; leased by NYNH&H R. R. 673

Old Colony R. R. Corp. (no. 1), 266, 267, 495

Oliver Ames & Sons, 387, 449, 471

Olneyville, see Providence

O‟Riordan, Patrick, opens Canton gravel pit, 619

Ormsbee, Charles, frt conductor B&P released account poor eyesight, 574

Otis, Theodore, attorney and developer Mansfield, 345

Otis, W. F., treas. TB, 205

Owen, Thomas, laborer B&P, 324, 325

Paine, Asahel, supplies bridge pilings B&P, 328

Paine, Charles F., psgr conductor, sta. agent Readville B&P, 533, 553

Paine, Edward N., telegrapher Mansfield, 310, 425-426, 430, 472, 557, 601-602, 648

Paine, Frederick, sta. agent B&P Mansfield, psgr conductor OC, 328, 393, 425, 426, 435, 441, 472, 497, 511, 532, 543,

561, 574, 594, 596, 599, 607, 648, 651; begins with B&P 309; later life and death 309, 557; becomes sta. agent

Mansfield 418; buys and sells wood 431; conductor on first Mansfield-Foxborough train 457-458; injured on r. r.

507, 509, 557, 622; complains of vagrants 513; becomes baggage master Mansfield 533; B&P locomotive named for

him 598; conductor on Mansfield-Foxborough trains 601

767

Paine, Henry N., locomotive engr B&P, 310, 378, 435, 457, 469, 576, 599, 602

Paine, Judith, cook depot restaurant Mansfield, 472

Paine, Mabel, Mansfield, 309

Paine, Nelson, baggage master B&P Mansfield, 309, 378, 418, 435, 533

Paine, Rufus Jinks, soap mfr Mansfield, ruins clothes fighting Mansfield sta. fire, 509

Paine, William, ancestor of Mansfield Paines, 308

Painesburg, see Foxborough

Palace car on “Shore Line Express,” 543

Panic of 1837, 245-246, 255, 303, 328, 358

Panic of 1857, 402, 411, 414

Panic of 1873, 449, 486, 488, 505, 520

Parallel or duplicate r. r. lines, proposed, 439-440, 469, 495, 496, 498, 579-580

Parlor car “Mansfield” on Shore Line Express, 592

Parris, Alexander, architect Bunker Hill monument, 24

Pascoag, R. I., see Burrillville

Passes, free, 420

Pawcatuck River, see Rivers

“Pawtucket Branch R. R.” (East Jct to West Jct [Boston Switch]), 327

Pawtucket, Mass.-R. I., 6, 7, 9, 58, 212, 245, 316, 333, 334, 432, 449, 452, 455, 470-471, 484, 488, 567, 659, 672

Pawtucket River, see Rivers

Paymaster‟s “dummy” B&P, 511-512

Peabody & Stearns, architects Park Square Sta. Boston, 517

Pearl St. Sta., 532

Peckham, Ralph & Co., Providence, 537

Penn Central Transportation Co., buys NYNH&H R. R. and B&P lease, 674

Perkins, (Col.) Thomas H., merchant, philanthropist Boston, 24-26; bio. 41-42

Perrin, Parley Ide, director Taunton Car Co., 457

Perrins, Mass. (Seekonk), 457, 527

Perry, (Dr.) William F., physician Mansfield, 519, 536

Philadelphia, Pa., 2, 8, 12, 16, 51, 92, 155, 156, 167, 188, 241, 270, 289, 295, 358, 384

Philadelphia & Reading Coal Co., coal facilities New Bedford, 530, 593

Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore R. R., 406

Phillips, Wendell, abolition activist, 293

Phleger, Leonard, invents boiler, 405

Pike, Lloyd E., sues B&P, 515

Pilkington, John, US&S Co. supervisor, 670

Pilling, Richard, intg technician Mansfield, 670

Plainville (formerly part of Wrentham), Mass., 140, 649

“Planes,” B&P, 61, 149-150; proposed inclined planes at Canton 72

Plymouth, Mass., 14, 365; Manomet 308

768

Plymouth-Taunton Canal, see Canals

Point Judith, R. I., 80, 253, 254

Portland & Ogdensburg R. R., 318, 457

Portland, Me., 366

Post riders and post roads, 2

Post Route 299, Boston-Taunton, 276

Potter, Charles, director B&P, 115

Pottle, George, locomotive engr B&P, 515

Powers, John, hobo dies in Mansfield yard, 645

Pratt‟s Jct. (Sterling), Mass., 451, 493

Pratt, Solomon, cotton industrialist Mansfield, 190

Prince, James, 335

Prince, Timothy, locomotive engr B&P, 629, 630

Providence & Boston R. R. & Transportation Co. (of R. I.), chartered, organized 121; bridges Seekonk R., builds India

Pt. terminal in Providence 153, 176, 275; leases bridge and terminal to B&P 154; land appropriated for India Pt.

terminal 182; operates N. Y. steamboats 252, 254, 263, 275; dividend 175; capital stock acquired by B&P 313-314;

name changed to B&P R. R. Corp. 383. See also Appendix F.

Providence & Bristol R. R. (Mass.), 367, 380

Providence & Bristol R. R. (R. I.), 367, 380

Providence & Newport Steamer Line, 366

Providence & Springfield R. R., 487

Providence & Worcester R. R., 439, 452, 471, 487-488, 516, 572, 579, 620, 621; puts Blackstone Canal out of business

15, 315; chartered, organized 310; incorporated 315; Providence terminal 315; joins in Providence Union Sta. 315-

316, 332; joint trackage with B&P 317, 333; opens 331; schedules 333; A. Lincoln rides 344; Norfolk Cty Ry

connection 354; locomotives concerted from wood to coal 404, 407; double track 449

Providence, R. I., 4, 7-11, 16, 17, 48, 51, 53, 55, 79, 80, 135, 136, 152-153, 167, 187, 188, 204, 215, 218, 228, 231, 238-

240, 246, 250, 251, 255, 274, 295, 303, 318, 343, 355, 365, 371, 381, 430, 431, 439, 496, 505-506, 510, 514, 526-

527, 552, 558, 582, 606, 613, 652, 659, 665, 666; founded by Roger Williams 1; first stagecoach to Boston 2; horse

ry plans 32, 33; horse ry terminals 36, 37; India bridge 36, 153; India Pt terminal 48, 121, 152, 153, 154, 168, 170,

173, 174, 176, 180, 182, 227, 247, 253, 254, 316, 331, 334, 335, 367, 402, 483, 487, 500, 527, 560; described by

Washington Irving 52; Fox Pt 80, 102-103, 152, 253-255, 537; steam r. r. terminal, Seekonk R. bridge 153, 154;

Tockwotten Hotel 153, 253; description of city 153-154; first B&P train 169; train-boat connections 170-171; boat

rivalry at wharf 228-229; boat-train mail, Gen. Mallett postmaster 243; Hill‟s Wharf 251, 254; first N-YP&B train

252; ferry connection between r. r. terminals 253, 254, 289, 314, 335; boat line sales pitch 254; Union Psgr Sta. 254,

315-316; 331-333, 335, 344, 372, 389, 394, 412, 424, 431, 439, 487, 488, 516; express parcel service 268-269;

Dorr‟s rebellion 295; terminal problem 314-316, 487-488; railroads jointly enter Providence 317, 333; population

331; P&W opens 331; Union Station opens, first boat train runs through 334; telegraph lines to Worcester and

Boston 342; A. Lincoln visits 344, 423-424; port competes with Stonington 380; H. Thoreau lectures in Union Sta.,

impressed by it 390; PW&B opens 393;woodpile burns 402; BH&E opens to Waterbury 439; commuter service to

Boston begins 440; Olneyville 487; Doyle Commission 488, 516; slaughterhouses 492; commuter trains to

769

Mansfield 527; Pres. Hayes visits 538; Goddard Commission 572, 579, 597-598, 620-621; Committee of Expert

Engrs 621; new psgr station 672

Providence Tool Co., 255

Providence, Warren & Bristol R R., 346, 381, 393-394, 421, 432, 480, 482, 487, 558, 613, 656-657, 665; taken over by

OC R. R. 650

Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. (Mass.), 380

Providence, Warren & Bristol R. R. (R. I.), 236, 380

Purdy & Bradley, publish newspaper Boston, 286

Purdy, John, section man B&P, 557

Purdy, Reuben, Mansfield Civil War prisoner, 184

Putnam, Ct., 388, 412, 433, 672

Quincy Granite Ry, see Granite Ry

Quincy, Josiah, Boston, 2, 29

Quincy, Josiah, Jr., pres. B&P, 263, 289

Quincy, Mass., 24, 25, 26, 30; Wollaston wreck 627

Railroad families in Mansfield, 308-310, 435

Rails, first steel on B&P, 505

Randolph & Bridgewater R. R., 310

Randolph, Mass., 471

Reading, Mass., 634

Readville (“Dedham Low Plains”, Hyde Park, now Boston), Mass., 60, 62, 63, 79, 135, 150, 182, 204, 212, 274, 305,

324, 329-331, 364, 371, 372, 412, 434, 450, 556, 606; horse ry survey 36; Sprague‟s Pond 73, 430; kilo-post 77;

Black Hawk sinks in Sprague‟s Pond 125, 131; Sprague mansion used as temporary psgr depot 125, 127, 133; early

Boston-Readville runs 130, 131, 133; Readville-Dedham stagecoaches 133, 137; Dedham Branch jct at Readville

137; horse cars on Dedham Branch 138; commuter trains 296, 453; double track Roxbury-Readville 313; psgr fare

to Dedham 327; Norfolk Cty R. R. jct at Readville 354; Midland R. R. crosses over B&P at Readville 364, 393; H.

Thoreau at Readville 390; double track Readville-Sharon 421; Camp Meiggs 431; returning troops to Readville 442-

443; third track Boston-Readville 505; Charles F. Paine sta. agent 533; bungled burglary at psgr sta. 553

Red Bridge, Mass.-R. I., 79

Reed & Barton Co., silver and pewter mfrs Taunton, 344

Reed, Franklin, cutting wks Canton,, 470

Reed, Hiram Barney, iron molder Mansfield, 383, 430, 564

Rehoboth, Mass., 308

Revere Copper Co., Canton, 60, 183, 185, 305, 461, 617

Revere horse coach, 461

Revere, Joseph Warren, heads Revere Copper Co. Canton, 60, 63, 72, 115

Revere, Mass., 627

770

Revere, Paul, silversmith and patriot, 59, 304

Rhode Island Locomotive Works, 353, 444, 452, 456, 457, 468, 480, 484, 488, 489, 511, 516, 520, 534, 535, 541, 545,

557, 558, 565, 577, 578, 587, 595, 596, 598, 602, 613, 620

Rhode Island Magnetic Telegraph Co., 342

Richards, George, master mechanic B&P, 347, 467, 489

Richards, J., psgr conductor OC, 601

Richards, Osborne, killed on r. r. (suicide), 594

Richardson, Henry Hobson, architect, 386

Rider, Joseph E., foundryman Mansfield, 508

Rider, William H., foundryman Mansfield, 508

Rivers: Seekonk 1, 36, 48, 56, 70, 120, 121, 152-154, 176, 182, 227, 230-231, 247, 253, 275, 326, 328, 335, 367, 402,

432, 470, 562; Charles 12, 23; Neponset 12, 24, 30, 36, 60, 73, 182; Blackstone 13, 63, 316, 333, 432, 449, 533,

628; Taunton 14, 195, 206, 314, 330, 386, 483; Canton (E. Branch) 35, 59, 71, 116; Pawtucket 37, 219, Pawcatuck

80; Ten Mile 110, 316, 432, 593, 614; Wading 128-130, 133, 140, 141; Rumford (Forge Brook) 134, 196, 203, 311,

371, 378, 458, 501, 511, 558, 608, 610, 614, 644; Providence 253, 315; Seven-Mile 316, 432, 613; Thames 380,

397, 419, 433; Connecticut 465; Woonasquatuckett 621

Rix, Arthur, locomotive fireman B&P, 606

Robbins, Gilbert E., mayor Providence, 621

Robert Keayne, last B&P R. R locomotive named for colonial officer

Robeson, William R., director B&P, 577

Robinson, William, English engine driver B&L, 171

Rocket, early English locomotive, 87, 90

Rockland, Mass., 551

Rogerson & Bro., grain mill Mansfield, 487, 565, 594

Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg R. R., 374

Roslindale, Mass. (Boston), 79, 364, 527, 627-631; fire dept 630, 631

Rourke, Matthew, fatally injured on r. r. Mansfield, 519

Route 128 station (Dedham), Mass., 371, 421

Roxbury, Mass. (Boston), 352; Whistler road test begins 149; Flats 171, 182, 248, 389; head-on collision 212-214, 216,

234, 257, 481, 627; court trial 216-217; double track laid Roxbury-Boston 219, 272; Guy Carleton‟s 247; B&W diamond crossing 247-248, 389; commuter trains 296; double track Roxbury-Readville 313; W. Roxbury and loop

343, 364, 374; population increase 364; stagecoach to Boston 364; Highland sta. (W. Roxbury), 527, 562, 629

Roxbury shop, B&P, 159, 169, 242, 276, 341, 453, 454, 544, 642; reconditions Whistler 130, 132; builds stagecoach-

style psgr cars 139; description 272; builds psgr cars 274; builds first locomotive Norfolk 312, 467; builds

locomotives 317, 340, 345, 353, 365, 374, 383, 390, 412, 414, 434, 440, 444, 450, 467, 474, 488; employes 323;

locomotive G. S. Griggs rebuilt 391; builds locomotive Daniel Nason 414, 422, 434, 436-437, 438; rebuilds

locomotives for other r.r.s 415; rebuilds B&P locomotives 452, 516; G. S. Griggs dies, replaced as master mechanic

by George Richards 467; last locomotive built Viaduct 489

Ruggles, David, free black man ejected from train New Bedford, and the Ruggles case, 290-292, 318; bio. 298

“Rum rebellion,” 104-106, 216

771

Rumford Cotton Mfg Co., Mansfield, 221

Rumford, R. I., 62, 306, 307, 334, 527

Rumford River, see Rivers

“Running switches,” 544, 554; “slip carriages” Appen. G, 702-703

Russ, (Lieut.), naval officer injured in Roxbury collision, 212, 216, 607

Russell, Charles H., director B&P, 115

Russia railways, 355

Rutland & Burlington R. R., 355

Ryan, Michael, employe OC killed on r. r., 611-612

Sabin, Thomas, stagecoach operator, 3-4, 10

Safe r. r. operation, 431, 627

Sandwich, Mass., 14, 23

Sawyer, Benjamin Franklin, opens W. Mansfield coal mine, 358, 360, 363

Schenk, Samuel C., mfr Foxborough/Mansfield, 311, 378

Schubarth, N. E., civil engr, 621

Schubarth plan, Providence terminal, 620-621

Schuyler, Robert, secretary steamboat co., 214, 219

“Scoot,” local psgr train Mansfield-Foxborough-Walpole, 469, 531, 558

Scottish stonemasons on Canton viaduct, 119, 120

Seekonk Branch R. R., name changed from West Boston & East Providence R.-R. Co., 50, 227, 228, 230-232, 235, 236,

263; chartered 227; organized 228; sold 235

Seekonk, Mass., 53, 54, 71, 120, 121, 127, 128, 135, 212, 219, 231, 316, 331, 335; path from Boston 1; original B&P

terminus 48, 52; Rumford then part of Seekonk 62; origin of name 70; grades and cuts 74-75; B&P bridge to

Providence 153; state line is moved, part of Seekonk becomes E. Providence 228, 432; Seekonk turnout 247; ceases

to be important terminus 316; Providence & Bristol R. R. through Seekonk 367

Seekonk River, see Rivers

Sellars, W., turntable mfr Philadelphia, 659

Sergeant, F. M., roadmaster OC, 656

Seven-Mile River, see Rivers

Sharon Heights, see Sharon

Sharon hill, ruling grade B&P, 59, 62, 71, 72, 119, 126, 150, 158, 174, 241, 312, 313, 330-331, 351, 365, 478, 479

Sharon, Mass., 10-11, 35, 53, 73, 105, 119, 134, 135, 182, 183, 186, 248, 330, 331, 372, 421, 484-485, 526, 538, 544,

576, 593, 594, 622, 659; Sharon Heights 62, 78, 173, 249, 330; Cobb‟s Corner 119

Shaw, (Judge) Lemuel, chief justice Mass. Supreme court, 216; bio. 224

Shaw, Marshall, Mansfield, 199, 221

Shea, Martin, section foreman B&P Mansfield, 379

Schuyler C. Shepard, petitions B&P R. R. For psgr sta. at West St., Mansfield, 642

Sheppard, Phineas, killed on r. r. Canton, 617

Sherborn, Mass., 451

772

Sheridan, Gen. Phil, 645; funeral train 671

Shields' iron foundry, Mansfield, 379, 455, 607

Shields, Patrick, foundryman Mansfield 607

“Shore line” or Shore Line Ry, 418-419, 433, 461, 527, 572, 582

“Shore Line Express” (“Lightning train”), 565, 577, 642, 643; 651; Wagner sleeping coaches added 483; train breaks in

two 484; delayed by Hebronville wreck 486; TB connection at Mansfield 508; schedule change, first non-stop train

Boston-Providence, New Bedford cars no longer detached at Mansfield 510; kills trespassers 512, 526, 594;

schedule 527; delayed by snow 535, 581; delayed by hot box on palace car 543; delayed by engine failure 558; sets

grass fires 560; engine Thos. Motley fails 564; delayed by engine failure of Wm Robeson, coal-burner, 572; delayed

by engine failure 575; nearly derailed at Canton Jct 584; new parlor car added 592; fast run 598-599; adds Canton

Jct stop 609

Shunpike, 10

Signals, 215, 247, 506-507, 535, 540, 560, 566, 576, 580, 610

Silloway, Jacob, sta. agent B&P Canton, 441, 542, 543, 592, 610, 645

Silver Springs, R. I., 539

Skinner, Adoniram J., signal basket mfr Mansfield, 506-507

Skinner, Apollos, W. Mansfield, 81, 190, 289

Skinner, Frank, crossing tender Mansfield, 583

Skinner, George, psgr conductor B&P, 585

Skinner's (Lane's) private bridge Mansfield, 221-222, 360, 361

Skinner, Rufus, grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190, 381

Skinner, Thomas, Mansfield, killed on r. r. Dedham, 289

Skinner, Thomas, injured on r. r. Mansfield, 544

Skinner, William H., psgr sta. restaurant Mansfield, 472, 579, 594

Skinner, Zebediah, sells land to B&P W. Mansfield, 251

Slater, Benjamin Franklin, mechanic transfers from Roxbury shops to Taunton Loco. Mfg. Co., 319

Slaughterhouses, 449, 498, 580

Smith, Jesse, stagecoach operator Taunton, 8

Smith, Oliver C. “Fiddler Jack,” killed on r. r. Mansfield, 599-600

Smith, Stephen, sells land to B&P W. Mansfield, 81, 152

Smith, Winfield, psgr trainman B&P injured in Bussey bridge wreck, 628, 632

Smithfield, R. I., 471

Snow, Bertie, crossing watchman OC Mansfield, 656

Somers, “Cap,” agent B&P Mansfield, 586

Somerset, Mass., Brayton Pt. 482; interlocking switches introduced 646

South Attleborough, see Attleborough

South Boston, see Boston

Southbridge & Blackstone R. R., 354-355, 379, 380, 392

Southbridge, Mass., 354

South Canton (later Canton), see Canton

773

South Dedham (later Norwood), 450

Souther, John, owns Globe Loco. Wks, S. Boston, 435

Southern Midland R. R., 433, 438

South Walpole, see Walpole

Spaulding, C., sup. reps. B&P, 295

Speed of trains, 126, 127, 135, 150, 169, 170, 174, 212, 218, 232-233, 248, 266, 274, 371, 374, 381, 436, 481, 521, 532,

575, 587, 590; fast special train 585

Sprague Mansion, see Readville

Sprague‟s Pond, see Readville

Sprague, S. S., on Providence Goddard Comm., 572

Springfield Locomotive Works, 340

Springfield, Mass.,2, 13, 672

Spring, J., psgr conductor OC, 601

Spring St. sta., see Dedham

Spur, Gus, locomotive engr B&P, 606

Stagecoach operations, 2, 3-5, 8-11, 16, 169, 187, 183, 189, 264, 310, 364, 366, 387, 467, 592

Stagecoach-style r. r. cars, 138-140, 306

Stall, William, injured in rum riot, 106

Standard time, 384-385

Standish, David B., locomotive engr SBr. and B&P, 325, 393, 595

Starkweather, Ephraim, incorporates Norfolk & Bristol Turnpike Co., 6, 10

State lines, obstacles to r. r. construction 6; Mass.-R. I. state line moved 432

Steamboat connections, ferries and trains, 11, 17, 51, 80, 121, 135-136, 170-171, 180, 228, 231, 238, 243, 252-254, 273

274, 289, 295, 335, 365, 388, 419, 483

Steamboat Hotel, N. Attleborough, see Taverns

Steamboats, 9, 17-18, 550-551; Benjamin Franklin 17, 228; President 17, 228; Lexington 167, 169-171, 180, 228, 252,

253, 263, 269, 270, sinking 283-284, court case 284-285; Cleopatra 228; John W. Richmond 252, 263;

Massachusetts 252, 285, 366, 537; Narragansett 252, 253, 506; Rhode Island 252, 506, 537; Michigan 253;

Providence 253; Stonington 253, 506; Commodore 274, 366, 371; C. Vanderbilt 274, 366, 371; Oregon 274;

Knickerbocker 274; Bay State 366; Bradford Durfee 366; Empire State 366; Perry 366; Commonwealth 420, 430;

Commercial 443; Oceanus 443; New York-Providence steamers 652

Steamboat trains, 136, 186, 341, 533, 642, 666; southbound boat train exempt from short-notice schedule changes 214-

215; stops added at Canton and Attleborough 218; boat train conductors given watches 219; coordinated boat/train

schedules create monopoly 231; caution orders to southbound boat train 246-248; derailment 312; first through run

Boston-Stonington 334; boiler explosion on Canton viaduct kills engr 351-353; schedules 367-372, 395-396, 505,

540; TB connection at Mansfield 373, 508; hats and bonnets loaded at Mansfield 378, 435; I. Stearns rides boat

trains 419-420, 440-441; wrecked on bridge in R. I., 17 deaths 483; delayed by wreck at Hebronville 486; BC&F

connection at Mansfield 502; “Day Boat Train” 512; “steamboat psgr train” Framingham-Mansfield 531; delayed

by snow 535, 581; hot boxes 582; “Second” boat train 606; delayed by engine failure, fog 622

Steam box mill, Mansfield, 532

774

Stearns, Isaac, Mansfield diarist, editor, legislator, 2, 134-136, 172, 201, 212, 351, 378, 381, 440-441; rides first

scheduled B&P train 135; travels “Jim Crow” 290, 292-293; rides boat trains 419-420

Stearns, O. Scott, Mansfield, 351

Steere, H. F., ticket clerk B&P Providence, 397

Stephenson, George, pioneer English locomotive bldr, 38, 52, 87, 156, 347, 405

Stephenson, Robert L., English locomotive bldr, 38, 87, 88, 154, 160, 161, 242, 374

Stevens, (Capt.) Lewis, car inspector BCF&NB killed on r. r. Mansfield, 542

Stever, Jacob, injured in rum riot, 106

Stone, L. M. E., civil engr B&P, 53, 81; bio. 66-67

Stonington, Ct., 16, 263, 268, 270, 380, 397, 419, 433, 505, 622; steamboat connections 51-52, 80-81, 238, 253, 254,

274, 283, 334, 370-371; r. r. opens to 251-252; population 255; mail train to 264; frt transfer 275; number of daily

trains 372; 7th Mass. Vol. Inf. to 430; I. Stearns at 520; geese loaded at 619

Stonington, Providence & Boston Steamer Line, 366

“Stonington R. R.,” see New-York, Providence & Boston R. R.

Stony Brook Fault, 72

Stoughton Branch R. R., 471, 543, 556, 620, 650, 652, 672; authorized 303; capital 303, 304; organized 303-304, 551;

operating contract with B&P 303, 305; officers 304, 305; survey and construction 304; cost 304; mortgage to B&P

304, 551; receipts and expenses 304-305; opens 305; connects with Easton Br. R. R. 305, 387; merges into B&P

305, 482, 551; psgr-frt revenues equal 305; serves Kinsley Iron & Machine Co. 305-306; Revere rail coach 306,

461; psgr service 306; commuter service and fares 369, 372, 472, 506; schedules 369, 372, 461, 527, 540; grades,

curves, rails, bridges 387-388; locomotives 456, 461, 481; stock ownership by B&P 482; rumored extension to

Brockton 551; iron rails replaced by steel 608; O‟Riordan‟s gravel pit 619

Stoughton Grenadiers, helped suppress rum riot, 106

Stoughton, Mass., 369, 387, 393, 449, 450, 461, 471, 515, 527, 540, 551, 584, 616, 617, 627; population, shoe mfg 303;

Brigham designs depot 562

Strafford, Owen, laborer B&P, 324, 325

Strange, J. W., makes baggage checks Norton, 186

Strike of 1877, 449, 536

Sturdy, Lillian, Attleborough, escapes injury at Mansfield, 537

Sturgis & Brigham, architects, 562

Sturtevant Blower Co., 632

Sullivan, Patrick, laborer B&P, 324, 325

Sullivan, William, incorporates Granite Ry., 25

Sunday travel, 186, 584-585

Swain, George, civil engr MIT hired to inspect bridges B&P, 635

Swansea, Mass., 397

Swasey, A. E., supt NB&T and TB, 373, 499

Sweet, Leonard, escorts Pres. Hayes, 538

Sweet, Otis, and sawmill, W. Mansfield, 128, 129

Sweet, Sarah, feeds stranded passengers W. Mansfield, 411

775

Swift, (Capt.) William H., civil engr Stonington, Western R. R.s, 81

Taft, Royal C., director B&P, 577; bio. 589n

Taunton Branch R. R., 287, 296, 314, 341, 383, 385, 449, 469, 473, 493, 530, 543, 563; BP&T R. R. fails in Mass. senate

194; chartered 194; investors 194; organized 194; construction begins 195; Irish laborers 195, 198; L. Wheaton

obstructs r. r. 195-196; original route 196; relocation of route 196; J. Deane obstructs new route 196-197; Deane‟s private depot 197-198, 461, 473; Branch St. Mansfield cut 199, 221; gradients 199; method of construction, rails,

199; severe winter impedes construction 200-201; completed 201; Taunton station 201, 319; Mansfield union depot

201-203; Mansfield engine house and turntable 203, 378, 480, 540-541; psgr trains make flying switch 204; capital

and cost 205, 340; fares 205; first newspaper ad 205; officers 205, 276, 372-272, 594; opens 205, 496; r. r. benefits

Taunton 206; locomotives 206-207, 276, 288, 347, 355, 405, 406, 423, 432, 457, 593; contracts with B&P to share

operations 230, 266, 267, 493; Dean and Davenport express service 249; revenues, expenses, dividends 257, 266,

314, 319, 340, 343, 353; average train speeds 266-267; NB&T R. R. a logical extension 286-287; leases Taunton

Loco. Mfg Co. engines 318, 355; acquires with NB&T R. R. rights to Weir Branch R. R. 330, 495; A. Lincoln rides

TB 344; sells land to Branchville developers in Mansfield 345; number of daily trains 372; timetables, schedules

373, 496; builds Attleborough branch 451; holds out on consolidation plans 494, 495-496, 498; agreement with

NB&T for through operation 495; increases track capacity 498-499; coal trains 499; consolidates with New Bedford

R. R. under latter‟s name 500, 532 Taunton Britannia Mfg Co., 206

Taunton Car Co., 457, 483

Taunton Locomotive Mfg Co., 347, 353, 355, 373, 392, 415, 440, 444, 445, 450, 454, 456, 457, 581, 582, 598, 602;

reboilers TB engine Meteor 207, 288; copies B&P engine Norfolk 313, 341, 423; leases new engines to TB 318;

founded by Crocker bros. 318-319; B. F. Slater mechanic 319; first engine 340-341; dates in business 341; builds

engines with Dimpfel boilers 405; converts engines with Dimpfel boilers 406, 432; uses Griggs‟ wood-cushioned

drive wheels 409; avoids bankruptcy 411; large UP contract 536; good business 501

Taunton, Mass., 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 79, 184, 196, 199, 204, 244, 266, 276, 291, 295, 296, 311, 312, 326, 354, 369, 371, 372,

381, 411, 450, 468, 482, 495-500, 520, 528, 543, 609, 612, 620, 652, 653, 672; contemplated r. r. 39, 194; rum

rioters to Taunton court 106; industries 194-195, 206; Taunton Br. completed 201; Wales St. Sta. 201; first train 205;

express service to Boston 268; NB&T opens to Taunton 287; Wm. Mason & Co. 314, 445; Taunton Locomotive

Mfg Co. 318-319; Weir Village 330, 495; A. Lincoln visits 344; r. r. center 386; Camp Old Colony 430; Wales St.

Sta. burns and is replaced 440; Central Sta. 444-445, 509, 587, 593, 608; branch to Attleborough opens 471; double

track to Weir Jct. 497; contemplated parallel r. r. Mansfield-Taunton 498, 580; new frt depot 499; double trk to

Whittenton 573; fast train 585; Whittenton 579

Taunton-Plymouth canal, see Canals

Taunton River, see Rivers

Taunton Turnpike, 10

Taverns and hotels, 5, 9, 137, 153; Richard Olney Tavern, Providence 4; Fuller Tavern, S. Walpole 7; Tremont House,

Boston 7; Weatherby Tavern, Taunton 8; Washington Hotel (Swan‟s Tavern), Canton 8; Steam Boat Hotel (formerly Maxcy‟s Tavern), N. Attleborough 9, 51, 57, 58; Boyden‟s City Tavern, Boston 11; Marlboro Hotel, Boston 11;

776

Dedham Hotel, Dedham, burns 137; Phoenix Hotel, Dedham, burns 137; Tockwotten Hotel, E. Providence 153, 238,

247, 253; The Tavern, Mansfield 482

Tefft, Thomas Alexander, architect designed Providence Union sta., 332-333, 487; bio. 338

Telegraph, 285, 341-343, 425-426, 480, 534, 543-544, 611-613

Telephone cable, buried in B&P roadbed, 582-583

Telephore (optical telegraph), 63, 306, 341, 342

Telford, Thomas, British civil engr, 38

Ten-Mile River, see Rivers

Terry, Shurtliff & Co., iron foundry Mansfield, 378, 382

Thain, George, locomotive engr B&P injured at Hogg bridge, 606

Thames River, see Rivers

Thames River movable bridge, 672

Thatcher, Peter, Mansfield, 250

Thomas, William, trustee M&F, 458

Thompson & Willimantic R. R., 433, 438

Thompson, James, psgr injured in Roxbury collision, 213

Tilden, Myron, psgr conductor B&P killed in Bussey bridge wreck, 628, 632

Tillson, Stephen F., textile factory Canton, 351

Tillson, William, noted stagecoach driver, 7

“Tin Bridge,” Blackstone River 449, 533, 628; Bussey bridge 627-628

“Tin Kettle Train,” carried workmen Mansfield-Providence, 486, 505-506, 508, 533, 558, 563

Tisdale, Israel, Jr., S. B. R. R. Director, Mass. r. r. commissioner, 305; hanged self in r. r. car 343

Tiverton, R. I., 585

Tobit, John T., W. Mansfield sta. named for him, 185, 239-240

Tobit‟s (“Tobey‟s”), see Mansfield

Tockwotten Hall/Hotel/House, see Taverns

Toll Gate sta., see Forest Hills

Torrey, Benjamin B., treasurer B&P, 565, 577

Torrey, Ebenezer, trustee M&F, 258

Torrey, Joseph G., prints tickets B&P, 327

Towne, Edward F., yardmaster OC Mansfield, 587, 612

Triangulation, U. S. Coast Survey, 306-308

Trimble, Isaac Ridgeway, civil engr B&P, 53, 81, 106; bio. 720-721

Trimble, Joseph, yard employe injured Mansfield, 587

Tripp, John, psgr trainman B&P, 628

Troy, see Fall River

Tucker, Simeon, director S. Br., 305

Turnpikes, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11

Union Freight R. R., bought by B&P and OC, 521

777

Union Switch & Signal Co., 567, 580, 649, 658, 660, 670

Unit coal trains proposed on B&P, 359, 363

United Corp. of the Middleboro R. R. With Fall River Branch R. R. and Randolph & Bridgewater R. R. Corp., 310

Upham‟s Corner, see Boston

Upjohn, Richard, architect designed Norton psgr sta., 386, 444; bio. 399

U. S. Coast Survey, used B&P tangent for triangulation base line, 77, 306, 307

U. S. Military Academy (West Point), 38, 52

Uxbridge, Mass., 333

Vagrants ("tramps") on r. r., 505, 513, 519, 538, 561

Valley Falls, see Cumberland

Vanderbilt, (Comm.) Cornelius, 51, 167, 180, 228, 252

Vanderbilt, William H., famous for “the public be damned,” 113

Vernon, Joseph I., US&S Co. rep. 658; NYNH&H R. R. Supervisor 670

Virginia, B&P woodlands in, 327, 328, 404

Vose, George L., civil engr advises B&P after Bussey bridge wreck, 635

Wading River, see Rivers

Wading River bog, see Mansfield

Wages on r. r., 102, 104, 323-327, 359, 528, 554, 614-615

Wagner sleeping coaches “City of Providence” and “City of New Haven” on Shore Line Express, 483

Waite, William, basket mfr, 309

Walcott, F. E., frt conductor B&P, 515

Wales, Martin, director S. Br., 305

Wales, Thomas B., director and pres. B&P, pres. TB, 52, 54, 115, 168, 173, 190, 205, 544, 593

Walpole, Mass., 9, 11, 59, 71, 175, 354, 388, 397, 434, 439, 451, 531-532, 649, 672; South Walpole 7, 10; horse ry

survey line 36; Norfolk Cty R. R. and Walpole R. R. 329; F. W. Bird objects to E. Walpole not getting r. r. 330; M&F

through Walpole 468, 493; interlocking switches introduced 646

Walpole R. R., 329, 330

Walsh, Patrick call boy B&P Mansfield discovers depot burglary, 496

Ward, Benjamin, locomotive engineer B&P, 643

Ward, H. D., passenger conductor B&P, 397

Wardwell, Jonathan, early stagecoach operator Boston-Providence, 2

Warren & Fall River R. R. (Mass.), 397

Warren & Fall River R. R. (R. I.), 397, 432

Warren, Charles H., 316, 325, 367

Warren, R. I., 268, 367, 380, 397, 483

Warren, Winslow, clerk B&P, 577

Washington, D. C., 62, 270

Washington Rifle Corps, Attleborough militia helps suppress rum riot, 106

778

Watches and clocks, 218-219, 384

Waterbury, Ct., 439

Watertown, Mass., arsenal, 634

Water troughs, no evidence of, 583-584

Webster, Daniel, 28, 29, 33

Weir Branch R. R., 330, 495

Weir Jct., see Taunton

Weir Village, see Taunton

Welch, William, frt conductor B&P fatally injured on r. r. Mansfield, 559

Wellman, H. E., on Providence Goddard Comm., 572

Wells Fargo & Co., 271

Wells, Henry, express agent, founds Wells Fargo, 271

West Boston & East Providence R. R., 227

West Bridgewater, Mass., 652; Cochesett 616

Westerly, R. I., 80, 255, 334; Bradford 483

Western R. R. (later Boston & Albany), 50, 81, 102, 114, 190, 194, 277, 344, 365, 478, 501

Western Union, 599, 613

Westinghouse, George, first use of his automatic air brake on B&P, 509

West Junction, see Boston Switch

West Kingston, see Kingston

West Mansfield (Tobit‟s, “Tobey‟s”), see Mansfield

West Point, see U. S. Military Academy

West Roxbury (Boston), see Roxbury

West Roxbury Branch of Loop, 78, 79, 354, 364, 374, 627

Weymouth-Narragansett Bay Canal, see Canals

Wheaton, (Judge) Laban, land baron Norton, opposed r. r., 195-197

Whistler, B&P locomotive, 115, 127, 133, 134, 159, 160, 206; first B&P engine 88; questionable origin 88-90;

mechanical specs. 90-91; in construction service on south end B&P 91; sinks in bog 129-132; fuel and steaming

tests 131, 132, 141, 149-150, 161; recovery from bog 132; in psgr service 132, 138, 167; search for 140-141; on

roster 151; renamed Massachusetts 151-152; retired 318; second engine G. W. Whistler 440

Whistler, Anna (McNeill), “Whistler‟s Mother,” 38

Whistler, (Lt.) George Washington, civil engr, locomotive assembler, 38, 39, 81, 89, 102, 106, 116, 174, 344, 423; visits

England to study railways 38; consultant on building B&P 53; recommends G. Griggs to B&P 131; rides first B&L

train 152; sup‟t Locks & Canals 155, 159, 256, 312; death in Russia 355, 440; bio. 712-717

Whistler, James A. M., artist, 38

Whistles on locomotives, and use of, 162, 514, 552, 618

White, Clarence A., mail clerk B&P injured on r. r. Mansfield 500; injured on r. r. Boston 564

White, John E., baggage master wounded in Chartley branch shoot-out, 484

White, Nathaniel, carpenter B&P, 326

White, Walter E., locomotive engr B&P Bussey bridge wreck, 628-630, 635

779

Whitmore, Andrew E., rifle mfr Mansfield, 482

Whitney, Henry Austin, director, interim pres. B&P, 474, 521, 526, 555, 600; bio. 524-525

Whitney, Henry M., pres. B&P, 562, 577, 665; bio. 569

Whitney, Silas, builds tramway Boston, 23

Whittemore, D. J., Providence Comm. Of Expert Engrs, 621

Whittenton, Mass., see Taunton

“Whiz Bang” Line, see Attleborough Branch R. R. Wickford, R. I., 252

Wilbur, George E., buys Clark's smithy Mansfield, 473, 607

Wilbur, S. S., barrel hoop mfr Mansfield, 485, 550

Wild, Francis, director B&P, 577

Willard, Solomon, architect designs Bunker Hill monument, 24, 25, 31, 32, 38

William Mason & Co. (Mason Machine Works), locomotive bldrs Taunton, 314, 353, 406, 411, 457, 477, 600; first

locomotive 385

Williams, Benjamin, grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190

Williams, Charles H., mfr Mansfield, 486

Williams, Charles P., noted stagecoach driver, 7

Williams, Ebenezer, grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190, 200

Williams, Eliphalet, director B&W, pres. Bangor & Pisquataquis, 171

Williams, Experience, grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190

Williams, (Atty) George F., handled Bussey wreck cases, 635

Williams, Granville, injured on r. r. Mansfield, 552

Williams, Jacob, grants right-of-way to B&P W. Mansfield, 190, 200

Williams, Roger, settled Providence, 1

Willimantic, Ct., 355, 379, 389, 433, 519, 586, 672

Willson, S. W., “Steamboat Train” conductor B&P, 397

Wilson, Joseph M., civil engr, 621

Winans, Ross, locomotive bldr Philadelphia, 29

Wolcott, J. Huntington, director B&P, 577; bio. 589n

Wollaston, see Quincy

Wood (fuel) schooners, 327

Wood, Isaac, locomotive engr BC&F, 498

Woolsey, William W., director and pres. B&P, 115, 182, 190, 214, 217-219, 238, 241-244, 263, 481

Woonasquatucket River, see Rivers

Woonsocket, R. I., see Cumberland

Worcester, Mass., 2, 128, 172, 180, 268, 283, 286, 290, 303, 315, 372, 384, 443, 497, 665, 672; Blackstone canal 13, 14,

opens 15; Western R. R. 114; first train from Boston 171; first trains to Springfield 277; first train from Providence

331; A. Lincoln visits 344; coal trains 501

Worley, William, sta agent B&P Forest Hills, 630

Wrentham, Mass., 7, 34, 59, 312, 319, 439, 467, 616; stagecoach to Foxborough 601

780

W. R. Lee, B&P. locomotive wrecked at Attleborough, 488, 507-508, 516

Young, E. A. G., locomotive bldr New Castle Del., 242

END